Epidemic
by 12 Withering Roses
Summary: Post Miranda. Aydan and Dominick have joined the crew of Serenity. They unwittingly encounter a planet plagued by the outbreak of a new and terrifying epidemic and they must find a cure after crew become infected. Mal/Inara, Rayne, Simon/Kaylee, OC/OC
1. Raging Fever

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Except perhaps the whole Firefly series AND Serenity on DVD. Yeah…but alas, no rights. If I owned rights, there would be many more episodes of Firefly. I'm just really bummed that I didn't know about it while it was on TV…My dad only just got me hooked on it during March break. Oh well…

AN: Well, I'm new to the Firefly 'Verse (Heh…pun totally intended.) so yeah…I generally write Moonlight fanfics (Yes, I am a total vampire freak. What? Vampires are sexy…once you get past the whole 'they're dead and necrophilia is totally immoral' mindset.) But lately I've been coming up with some really good Firefly ones…this one is the one that just refused to leave me alone until I started it. So yeah…just a little background info I feel like sharing, this particular idea stemmed from a really messed up dream I had last night…a dream that was quite possibly induced by a fever, as I woke up sweating a lot. But yeah…anyway, just one more thing, and then I'll let you get to the story, I promise. I'm currently in the middle of writing two other fanfics at the moment, and I had intended to wait to write this one, but considering the fact that it won't leave me be, I'm writing it now. Just so you know that updates will be few and far between as I'm going to be working on the other two as well. But don't worry…I won't forget about you. Alright so, now that that's settled…onto the story!

It all started with a fever. Well, technically, it had started with a bite that had brought on the fever.

Well, however it had started, Aydan Fallon was far from interested in the technicalities of it. The only thing that really concerned her at this point in time was the overwhelming spasms of excruciating pain running through her body as she lay seizing on the floor of her bunk.

An agonized scream tore out of her as a particularly painful spasm struck her, causing her muscles to seize in protest. Her entire body felt as though it was ablaze, and her insides felt as though they were rearranging themselves. Which, she managed to think bitterly before another wave of pain made all coherent thought impossible, they probably were.

She shivered as the fever only increased, her body damp with cold sweat. Her skin was clammy and all of the colour had drained from her face, leaving her deathly white. She cursed the Alliance and all of its members to a horrible, slow, excruciating death. She hoped they all suffered the agony she was currently experiencing.

She screamed some more and writhed around, knocking over several items. She could just barely hear another agonized screech over her own, and winced, guilt flooding through her. She should never have dragged them into this. Because of her own stupidity, she wasn't the only one suffering. She wasn't the only doomed individual aboard Serenity. Thanks to her, Kaylee, the mechanic, had been infected as well. Kaylee would suffer the same fate as Ayden. And it was all Ayden's fault.

Ayden struggled to keep her own mind as the infection spread through her. Soon, it would take over and she would no longer be able to control herself. She would no longer even be able to think coherently. Her throat went suddenly dry. She thirsted. The thirst struck so suddenly and so violently that she feared she would go insane.

Trying to keep from losing her mind, she focused on the shouts coming from upstairs. What she could hear over her own agonized shrieks, as well as those of Kaylee in the bunk across from her, weren't very comforting.

"MAL! LET ME GO! I NEED TO GO TO HER! SHE'S IN PAIN! MAL! LET ME GO!"

Ayden listened as the captain struggled to keep her boyfriend, Dominick Connelly, under control.

"DOM! LISTEN TO ME! IT'S NOT HER! NOT ANYMORE!" Mal shouted back.

"I DON'T CARE! LET ME GO!" Dominick yelled again. Just before another spasm of pain coursed through her, causing her to scream out, she heard what sounded like a scuffle, followed by the sound of wood hitting metal. Ayden could only assume that Mal had thrown Dominick over the table in an effort to keep him away from her.

After her latest, and worst, as of yet, spasm of pain hit her, Ayden seccumbed to the pain and slipped into the welcoming blackness that enveloped her.

TBC

AN: You should probably know that I'm definitely one for evil cliffies. Seriously, I have an addiction to writing them. Reading them, not so much. But definitely writing them. I attend regular meetings of ECAA, or Evil Cliff-hanger Addicts Anonymous…so I'm taking it one day at a time. Because this chapter is so short, however, you'll get one more very soon. If not tonight, then most definitely tomorrow. After that, however, my update schedule will be sort of touch-and-go, as I'm currently working on two other fanfics at the moment. But…here's chapter one!

Love always, Cat.


	2. Six Months Earlier

Disclaimer: Nope, don't own it

Disclaimer: Nope, don't own it. Wish I did, but I don't. Oh well. I suppose I'll just have to deal. Breaks down and Cries Wow. So much for being dignified.

AN: Okay, so, as I promised, here's your extra chapter…just to keep you going. :D. Oh, and just so you know, this story is going to jump around a lot when it comes to the timeline. But don't worry…all flashbacks are in chronological order!

**Six Months Earlier**

Aydan Fallon, just nineteen years old, found herself wandering Persephone, looking at each ship as she passed it. She wasn't quite sure where it was she was going yet; despite almost 2 years of being on her own, she still hadn't completely adjusted to it.

Perhaps it was because she still held out hope somewhere in the depths of her being that her parents would come back for her. They had owned a transport business, delivering goods across the 'Verse. The week before they had been set to go on vacation, they were contacted by Alliance officials and requested to make a delivery to one of the outer rim planets. Exactly which one, none of them had been sure. The Alliance had insisted that they would send Aydan's parents the co-ordinates while they were en route, as the co-ordinates were extremely classified.

In need of the money, and not wanting the Alliance to make their lives any more difficult than necessary, Aydan's parents accepted the job. Having been supporters of the Independents during the Unification War, they accepted the job rather grudgingly. Aydan's father, Maxwell Fallon, had even been a Brown Coat in the War.

They had promised to wave her in a week and tell her where they had ended up so that she could come and meet them, and then they would head to their vacation destination together. Aydan had stayed behind, having a few things to take care of at home before leaving on vacation.

After two weeks of not hearing from her parents, she had started to worry. It was not like them to just leave her alone like that without contacting her. They'd loved her more than anything in the 'Verse. She had been certain that they wouldn't just leave her.

A month had passed. Then two. Still, there was no word from her parents. So she'd packed up and left, intent on searching the 'Verse over to find them if she had to.

And she had. Twice. Every known inhabited planet and moon. It had taken her a full year to circuit the 'Verse twice, and in that time, she'd returned home every month to see if her parents had tried to contact her at all. They hadn't.

And still, there was no sign of her parents. There were no reported sightings of their ship. It was as if they had vanished into thin air.

Shortly after her eighteenth birthday, just under a year after her parents' disappearance, Aydan stopped looking for them. She had had to tell herself that they really were gone. That they had left her all alone in the 'Verse. That they weren't coming back. Although there was a part of her, buried deep down, that simply refused to believe it.

Aydan resisted the urge to smack herself. She brushed some straight red hair out of emerald green eyes and walked faster, pulling her backpack straps tighter as she walked. They really hadn't needed to be tightened; it had just been a nervous gesture. In fact, if she'd tightened it any more, she would most certainly have cut off the blood flow to her arms.

She was very tall, about 5'11, and had a slender frame. She wore black, tight-fitting denim pants and a bright green t-shirt. Most of her hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail, although there were quite a few stray strands. Her face was long and her features were soft and, overall, she was an extremely attractive girl. She was rather messy at the moment, even more than her normally disorganized self.

She would have liked to have cleaned herself and made herself at least slightly more presentable so as to make a good impression on the captain of whichever ship she happened to board, but she didn't have the time. She had just had enough time to finish an odd job (because she never stayed in one place for too long, odd jobs were her means of survival) to have enough to pay for her fare and make her way to where the ships were parked.

She scanned each ship as she passed, and several of them had been quite appealing. The only problem was, those ships she actually believed would make their way off the planet without fracturing into a million pieces cost far too much for her. What she needed was a safe, simple, and, most importantly cheap, ride.

And then she saw it. It didn't look like a lot, but it looked a hell of a lot more stable than most of the other ships in the yard. It really was her last hope anyway. She read the name painted on the hull. _Serenity_. Her interest was piqued. She understood the significance of the name; the battle of Serenity was where the Independents had lost the war. She had to find out more about this ship. So, seeing a fairly young, cheery-looking auburn haired woman out front with a young black-haired man, Aydan decided to try her luck…

MLMLMLML

Dominick stared sourly around him. He barely had two credits to rub together, but he needed a ride. With any luck, he might be able to hitch a ride on one of the cargo ships until he could find somewhere that might give him a job.

His skills weren't exactly in demand when it came to the workforce. Having been on his own from the age of fourteen, he had quickly learned to gamble, cheat, and steal his way through the week. Now twenty-one, he was an expert in every sort of weaponry, and was also a gifted code breaker. He could crack the code of a bank vault in minutes flat. Despite his badass reputation, he was really a soft and sensitive sort of person, not to mention a hopeless romantic. Unfortunately, because he had been on his own from such an early age, he'd had to learn to bury all of his emotions, to become a stone, just to survive.

So now, as he made his way along the street in front of all of the docked ships, he 'accidentally' bumped into a well-dressed man on the street. The man shot him a dirty look, which Dominick returned with an apologetic grin, and kept walking. He chuckled to himself, counting the credits he'd managed to lift from the man without his knowledge.

Despite being a pickpocket and a thief, Dominick lived by a certain set of rules. After all, his father had taught him that every man should have some sort of standards, no matter what his trade. Dominick knew his father had been right. And so, he lived by his own moral code…which actually had very few rules. It was quite simple, really. Rule 1) Steal only from those who look as though they'd be able to afford it. Dominick never took from anyone who looked worse off than him. Rule 2) Never steal from a friend, or from anyone who's done you a service. Stabbing people in the back was something Dominick thought was disgusting and despicable. Rule 3) Steal only when absolutely necessary. If there was another way Dominick could get something he needed, he would obtain it honestly. Despite the fact that he was a professional thief, stealing was a last resort for him.

Dominick realized with a grin that, thanks to the generous well-dressed man he'd passed just moments before, he now had enough money to buy passage on a ship. He'd spent an excessive amount of time on Persephone, and was eager to move on. This was one planet he really didn't like all that much. A month had been more than enough time on that barren wasteland.

His eye catching a ship that, by the looks of it, might just be willing to accept his meagre offering of a fare, Dominick made a beeline for the ship known as Serenity.

MLMLMLML

"Alright people…you know the drill. Jayne, River, Inara…go restock on whatever necessities we're runnin' low on. Simon, Kaylee…you stay with the ship. We need the coin, so take any paying passengers you can find. Zoe and I're gonna go look into a potential job. We meet back here in two hours for takeoff…everybody clear?"

"Aw, Mal…why do I gotta be paired up with Crazy?" Jayne asked, clearly annoyed. Mal shot him a look. Jayne immediately looked away and grumbled 'fine' under his breath.

"Now, I'll ask you all again…is everyone clear?"

Mal looked around him at all the affirmative nods and gave one of his own.

"Good. Then let's get to it. The sooner we all get back here, the sooner we can all get off this god forsaken wasteland."

With that, everyone parted ways.

Kaylee let out a giggle as the others walked off, leaving them completely alone. She grabbed Simon's hand and pulled him into a quick kiss, which he gladly returned. After they had broken apart, Simon looked around him at the crowded street. A vague, somewhat distracted expression crossed his handsome features.

"Simon…you okay?" Kaylee asked quietly, slightly concerned by the look on his face. Hearing her voice, Simon was snapped out of his reverie, giving her hand a gentle squeeze and smiling.

"Of course _bao bei_," Simon reassured her. "It's just so…strange. This is where it all began…this is where River and I found Serenity. This is where I found you." He said, bringing her hand to his lips so that he could kiss it. Kaylee giggles slightly at the gesture. Simon continued. "The last time we were here, River and I were at the top of the Alliance's most wanted list. Now…we can be just like everyone else. We don't have to look over our shoulders anymore. We can take a walk down the street if we want to." He finished, a contented smile gracing his lips.

Kaylee smiled and nodded in agreement. Since the Miranda incident four months earlier, the Alliance had been bombarded with outcries from the public. It seemed that the Alliance was having extreme difficulty dealing with the damaging effects of the footage they'd leaked. There was even talk of another war rising, a campaign to overthrow the Alliance.

With all of the problems they had caused for the Alliance, it seemed that the Alliance was just too busy to keep up with the hunt for Simon and River. Or perhaps, because the Miranda secret was out, they no longer had reason to keep up the hunt. The damage had been done; there was nothing they could do about it now.

Whatever the case, it seemed that Simon and River's faces had faded from the Alliance's Wanted list and into oblivion. And everyone seemed to have forgotten all about them. And even if they hadn't, the public was now far too disillusioned with the Alliance to even bother trying to hand them over. So, it seemed, Simon and River were…free.

Simon grinned at the thought…free. He and River were free to live perfectly normal, happy lives. He was free to go back to his home world and resume his career as a doctor. In fact, he'd thought about it…and very quickly decided that he didn't want to. He'd found a home on Serenity…as had River. He'd grown attached to the crew…had fallen in love with Kaylee. The thought of leaving Serenity, of resuming a repressed, proper, aristocratic lifestyle was no longer appealing to him. He enjoyed the freedom Serenity gave him. It had changed him for the better. And leaving Serenity would break River's heart. As long as they had Serenity and her crew, they knew they didn't need anyone or anything else…there was no place in the 'Verse they'd rather be.

Feeling suddenly joyful and giddy, Simon pulled Kaylee into a deep, passionate, and very _public_ kiss. Though he still had a hint of his proper upbringing, he'd abandoned almost all sense of propriety since Miranda. He'd learned then that life was too short to hide behind manners and wait for the 'proper moment'…that he's needed to live in the moment, to take what he wanted when he wanted it. Serenity…and Kaylee…had changed him. Very much.

Kaylee giggled with delight as she returned his kiss, just as heatedly. They were suddenly so caught up in the passion of the moment that they didn't notice a tall redhead of about twenty years of age approach until she cleared her throat loudly.

Hearing the noise, Simon and Kaylee immediately separated, whirling around to look at the owner of the voice.

"Hello…I'm…uh…sorry to…uh…_interrupt_ anything, but I was wondering if maybe you're taking on any passengers." The redhead girl asked. Kaylee nodded.

"Yep…where're ya headed?" She asked the girl.

The girl gave a half-hearted shrug before replying, "Not sure yet. Wherever you're headed, I guess." The girl paused. "Listen…I don't have much, but I'll give you everything I've got for a ride."

Kaylee looked at the girl sympathetically. "I'm sure we can work somethin' out." She told the girl, a reassuring grin on her face. "How 'bout Simon takes you for a tour of _Serenity_ and when the cap'n gets back we'll discuss your fare. 'Kay?"

The girl nodded and smiled. "That'd be great, thanks."

Kaylee grinned. "I'm Kaylee, by the way. This is Simon." She said, gesturing to Simon, who gave a small wave, and offering her hand to the girl.

"Aydan." The girl replied, taking Kaylee's hand. "Aydan Fallon. Everyone calls me Dannie."

Kaylee nodded. "Well, Dannie, it's very nice to meet you. Simon," She added, turning to Simon. "How 'bout you give Dannie here the tour of Serenity I promised her."

"Of course." Simon nodded, heading into the cargo bay and beckoning for Aydan to follow him. With an appreciative smile to Kaylee, Aydan followed.

Kaylee sighed and sank down into a chair outside the ship. They still had about an hour and a half longer to wait before everyone returned and then they'd be back on their way.

MLMLMLML

Mal and Zoe arrived back ten minutes before they were due to take off, satisfied with the fact that they had managed to procure a job. The rest had already gotten back twenty minutes earlier with all of the supplies they had needed to procure.

When Mal had arrived back, Kaylee had filled him in on Aydan's situation. After a brief discussion, he was willing to accept Aydan's offer of 120 credits. That settled, they went about their takeoff preparations.

Five minutes before they were set to take off, however, a young, tall, black-haired young man with grey eyes came hurrying up to Kaylee, who was doing some last-minute checks on the outside of the ship.

"Wait! Miss!" The young man called, running toward Kaylee, who was just walking back into the ship's cargo bay.

Kaylee turned to find a young man, no more then twenty-four, about 6'2 standing before her. Though he was well defined, he wasn't overly muscular. He had a strong, square jaw and soft, chiselled features. His black hair was medium-length and somewhat curly. He looked at her with piercing grey eyes.

"Would you happen to be taking passengers? Or am I too late?" He asked. "I can offer you four hundred credits and quite frankly I'm not particularly concerned with where I happen to end up."

Kaylee smiled brightly at the young man and replied, "I'll have to ask the cap'n, but I'm sure he won' mind none."

She beckoned the young man into the ship with her and he followed, a grateful smile on his face.

"Oh, where're my manners?" Kaylee asked, slapping a hand to her forehead. She extended her hand to the young man. "I'm Kaylee. The ship's mechanic."

The young man smiled even wider at the proud look on Kaylee's face.

"I'm Dominick Connelly." He replied, shaking her hand and giving her a handsome, toothy grin.

"Welcome to _Serenity_." Kaylee replied with a grin of her own.

MLMLMLML

The seven Serenity crewmembers and the two new passengers were all gathered around the table and eating a dinner of chicken-flavoured protein-based soup. Mal had made the necessary introductions and discussed the rules with the both of them earlier, had given them bunks, and had explained that Serenity was a transport ship for goods that, for the most part were slightly illegal. He told them that if either of them had a problem with it he would be more than willing to turn the ship around and drop them back on Persephone. To his immense satisfaction, neither one objected.

"So…what're your stories?" Mal asked, taking a bite of his soup and looking up questioningly at Dominick and Aydan.

"What do you mean, our 'stories'? Aydan finally asked.

Mal looked at her. "Well…who are you? How'd you end up here? Everyone here has a story. What's yours?" He asked. He noticed that Aydan seemed to be debating something internally before she finally spoke.

"Well…" She began, looking around at all of the interested faces looking at her. "I've been on my own since I was seventeen." She said. She didn't quite feel like going into specifics with a bunch of strangers. "Since then I've travelled the 'Verse twice. This is my third time around. I do odd jobs here and there to get by. I never stay in one place for too long. I guess you could say I'm a restless spirit. I travel wherever the wind takes me." She paused, debating whether or not to ask the question that was on her mind. She decided that, rather than ask directly, she'd take a different approach to her question.

"My parents were both supporters of the Independents during the Unification War. In fact, my father fought in the War on the side of the Independents."

Mal looked at her questioningly. Suddenly, something clicked. She _had_ looked mighty familiar…although he hadn't quite been able to place her.

"What'd you say your last name was?"

Aydan looked a little taken aback. She was slightly thrown off by his response.

"Fallon, sir. Aydan Fallon."

"You wouldn't happen to be Mad Maxwell Fallon's little girl, would you?"

"Yeah…" Aydan responded. "How'd you…?"

"I served with him. He was one of the best damn men I've ever had the pleasure of serving with. He talked about you a hell of a lot. Even showed me a picture every chance he got. You've changed a lot since then. I barely recognized you. "

It was then that something occurred to Aydan. "Wait…you're _the_ Malcolm Reynolds?"

"Only one I know." Mal responded with a chuckle. Aydan looked at him in awe.

"He used to talk about you all the time. Told mom and I how you saved his life on more than one occasion."

Mal smiled, reminiscing. "Yeah…but he saved my sorry ass a lot more than I saved his. 'Fact, he saved both mine and Zoe's."

They both looked over to where Zoe as sitting at the table, smiling slightly at the memory.

"Yeah," Zoe said, "he sure was one hell of a soldier. And he was the one that held us together. Kept us all from losin' it."

"So how is old Mad Max anyway?" Mal continued, taking a bite of his soup. He noticed the dark look that crossed Aydan's face before she spoke.

"I wouldn't know." She said quietly, her voice filled with bitterness. "I haven't seen him in two years."

An awkward silence descended over the table. For about five minutes, everyone focused on eating their soup. Nobody noticed the look River was giving Aydan. It was a steady gaze filled with sympathy.

Finally, in an effort to help the awkward moment pass, Simon cleared his throat.

"So…uh…Dominick." He started, "What's your story?"

"Well…" Dominick began. "Honestly? I've been on my own since I was fourteen. I've spent the last seven years aimlessly wandering the 'Verse. I'm a thief by trade." Catching the look Mal shot him, Dominick quickly explained. "You've got nothing to worry about, sir. While I'm on your ship, nothing will go missing. I give you my word. I live by a code: Never steal from those worse off than you, never steal from those who've done you a kindness, and steal only when absolutely necessary. I only steal when I've got no other way to make ends meet. Seeing as I've got no need to, and that you've done me a kindness, you can rest assured that nothing of yours or anyone else's will go missing on this ship."

Mal gave him a hard stare for a moment and then gave a stern nod.

"See that it doesn't." He told Dominick. "If anything goes missing on my ship, I'll hold you personally accountable."

"Understood sir." Dominick nodded.

"And I appreciate your honesty." Mal added. "Most folks wouldn't admit to being a thief when they're a passenger on a ship."

"I haven't anything to hide." Dominick assured Mal. Mal nodded in understanding. Dominick added, "I'm hoping I'll be able to find a job wherever I end up. I don't like thieving, but unfortunately it's my only means of survival."

"Well…I'll try and drop you somewhere where the workforce is good." Mal assured Dominick. He wasn't sure he should completely trust the young man, but he seemed honest enough. Besides, Mal was in dire need of Dominick's four hundred credits to tide them over until he could complete his next job.

TBC…

AN: Okay, so there's your chapter to tide you over for a while. I promise I'll get back to this as soon as I can…after I get some chapters written for my other stories of course. I hope this chapter was slightly more satisfying than the last…and try to bear with me as the story jumps around a lot.

Love always, Cat.


	3. Four Months Earlier

Disclaimer: Nope, don't own it

Disclaimer: Nope, don't own it. Wish I did, but I don't. Oh well. I suppose I'll just have to deal. (Breaks down and Cries.) Wow. So much for being dignified.

Four Months Earlier

Mal groaned as yet another argument started from somewhere in the area of the Cargo Hold. Two months…two months he'd had to put up with them bickering non-stop. More than once, he'd threatened to drop them off at the next available planet, but everyone knew it was an empty threat…even if they did happen to bicker a lot, he happened to like them both. Although, truth be told, he liked Aydan a hell of a lot more than he liked Dominick.

As Mal sat eating his breakfast and listening to the curses flying back and forth between the two of them, he began to rethink his decision to allow them to remain on Serenity.

About a month before, after they'd already spent a month on the ship, he'd offered them a place on Serenity. He'd gotten awfully attached to young Aydan, coming to look on her as more of a younger sister/daughter, depending on his mood. He wanted her to stay on Serenity mostly because he felt compelled to watch out for her. He felt sorry for the girl, having been out on her own from such a young age. And he figured he at least owed Mad Max the courtesy of watching out for his daughter. And Aydan was mighty helpful in everything from cooking to helping out with jobs. It wasn't like she didn't earn her keep.

And as for Dominick…Mal definitely respected the boy. Perhaps he liked the boy because he saw so much of himself in Dominick…they were both thieves, although they did have their honour. They lived by a code and stole only to keep food on the table and nothing more. Dominick, despite his thieving ways, was an honest boy for the most part. True to his word, he hadn't stolen anything from anyone in the ship. And, as with Aydan, Dom was also a real asset to have during a job. Mal found that, despite his perpetual bad luck when it came to jobs running smoothly, things seemed to run just a little more smoothly when Dom and Dannie were on the job.

Dom and Dannie, as they preferred to be called, even got along well with the others on the ship. Everyone simply adored them…with the exception of Jayne, who was civil to them, and that was a big step for him. In fact, Mal really couldn't see any reason _not_ to keep them on the ship…except for the fact that they didn't get along with _each other_. As much as he liked them both, that alone was incentive enough to throw one or both of them off the boat…and if it came down to choosing, no matter how much Mal liked Dom, he would without a doubt choose to keep Dannie.

Mal wanted to flop down face-first into his breakfast of protein porridge. He looked at Inara, sitting across the table from him. She reached over and took a hold of his hand, offering him a patient and reassuring smile. She gave his hand a squeeze.

"Give it time, Mal." She soothed, "They'll come to get along sooner or later."

Mal gave her a look. "That's what you said during the first two weeks of them bein' here. I'd just settle for them to learn to co-exist peacefully in the same space. If they never said another word to each other, it wouldn't bother me none."

Inara gave a secretive, knowing smile as the shouts got louder. "Something tells me that eventually they'll end up more than co-existing peacefully."

Mal gave her a look somewhere between 'you've got to be kidding me!' and 'did you have one too many of Kaylee's special engine brew wine?' and tried to find words to express his utter disbelief at her statement.

"Are you serious? Them two? You've got to be kidding me!" Mal answered. A particularly colourful curse flew out of Dannie's mouth and Mal turned to look at Inara as if to say, 'see? That just goes to prove my point.'

"Mal…you remember what we were like before, don't you?" She asked.

Immediately following Miranda, they had finally decided to openly admit their feelings for each other. They had, over the six-month period since Miranda, built a stable and loving relationship. Madly in love, they even shared Inara's shuttle. Perhaps their relationship had moved so fast because it had been a long time coming…nearly two years in the making before they'd finally admitted their feelings. Despite the fact that the relationship was so new, Inara was sure that Mal was he man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. Yes, they still had the more than occasional disagreement, and yes, he was still as stubborn and infuriating as ever, but she was sure he was the one…so sure that she'd given up her life as a companion for one with him. She wouldn't have him any other way.

Mal looked for a second like he was considering her point.

"Yeah…well…we were nothing like that. We could at least be civil to each other. With us it was just tension. They just plain hate each other." Mal responded in a tone that said very plainly 'I've proven my point, case closed. I win.'

Inara, however, wasn't about to give in that easily. "I'll make you a bet, Mal." She said, a sparkle in her beautiful eyes. "If I'm right and they happen to get together, I'll…cook dinner and clean up afterward for an entire month. No complaints."

"And if I win?" Mal asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Name your terms." Inara grinned.

Mal said the words before he even realized they'd left his mouth. He'd had the fleeting thought to say them as kind of a private joke to himself, but he never actually intended to say them. Not at that moment, not under these circumstances. When he said them, he wanted everything to be perfect. To be special.

"Marry me."

"W-what?" Inara stammered, looking at him with a positively shocked expression on her face. "I'm not sure if I heard you right…can you repeat that for me please?"

Suddenly Mal knew that this was it. The moment he had waited for. He'd been waiting for the right one…had gotten the ring a little over a month ago…and he'd just been waiting for the right way to ask the question. An original, romantic way of asking it. Well, it was original at least. Whether or not it turned out to be overly romantic remained to be seen.

Mal looked just as shocked as Inara did as he repeated what he'd first thought of as merely a joke in his mind, but had somehow morphed into a very real, serious marriage proposal.

"If I win, marry me. If I lose…marry me anyway." He said. He looked with determined eyes into hers, trying to read her expression. He got down on one knee, kneeling before her and pulling out the small velvet jewellery box. He looked around. There was no one there. He realized suddenly that this would be more special if there were someone there to witness this…he would definitely earn points in Inara's books for it. He knew it bothered her that he could never bring himself to display his affections for her openly. So he needed someone here to be able to see it…to show her that he was really serious. That he meant every word he was about to say to her.

Inara made to open her mouth to say something, but Mal shushed her by putting a finger to her lips.

"Hold that thought." He said. Then, "KAYLEE! DANNIE! GET IN HERE! I NEED YOUR HELP WITH SOMETHING FOR A SECOND!" He decided that his best bet would be for Dannie and Kaylee to act as witnesses. They were least likely to make him feel uncomfortable while he said his piece. Least likely to ridicule him for it, as well.

"COMING CAP'N!" Came the two simultaneous replies. There was a sound of feet running across the catwalks, followed by Dannie bursting into the galley. Kaylee followed a second later. Aydan looked at Mal for a second with utter disbelief, before her shocked expression morphed into a rather frightening grin. Kaylee also looked shocked before positively beaming. Kaylee's grin was, much to Mal's relief, a little less ominous than Dannie's was.

"I can't believe it!" Kaylee squealed happily. "You're finally proposin' to 'Nara!"

"And you need us for this…why?" Dannie asked, her cryptic grin softening into an amused smirk. Mal was slightly comforted by the subtle change in Dannie. Even if she was a sarcastic little bitch.

Mal looked at Inara and then back at Dannie and Kaylee.

"I need you two here to protect me. In case I manage to royally screw this up, in which case I'll need you to pull Inara off of me before she manages to hurt me too bad. You think you can handle her?"

Mal had to maintain at least some shred of dignity, so he played light of the situation. Thankfully, from the amused yet understanding smile he was receiving from Inara, she understood.

Dannie, still smirking, quipped, "Yeah, we could handle her…the question is whether or not we _would_."

Mal gave her a look. "Now, see here Dannie, who seems to be forgetting everything I've done for you in the past two months, _and_ the fact that I've put up with your endless nonsense bickering with Dom over said two months. Should I happen to say the wrong thing and incur the wrath of Inara, and should you fail to aid your captain in need, I would make damn sure that you were dropped on the next available planet with nothing but the clothes on your back and leave you there to rot. And that's assuming I'd be nice enough not to flush you out the airlock first."

It was a meaningless threat, and all four of them knew it. That didn't stop Inara from giving him a warning.

"Mal…" She said, in a soft yet stern voice. She was spared the need to say anymore when Mal looked at her face and saw a 'you know, threatening Dannie isn't exactly going to help your case any' expression written across it. Mal immediately went silent.

Dannie, ever insistent on having the last sarcastic word, said, "Wow…I'm so scared. Really. I'm trembling on the inside." With an eye roll and a smirk, she continued. "You won't leave me on some godforsaken rock to perish to the elements…even if you did happen to be angry enough to, Inara wouldn't let you…she'll protect me. _She_ loves me."

Mal gave Inara a look as if to say, 'you expect me to just let that go?' The answer to his silent question was written in her features, and Mal obediently dropped the subject, though only after promising himself that he would have a little conversation with Dannie later…

Mal cleared his throat, focusing on Inara and rehearsing in his head what exactly it was that he planned to say to her.

"'Nara…" He began, a little awkwardly. "I've known you a long time now. I just…I want you to know how much you mean to me. I was never one to believe in love at first sight…hell, I was never one to believe in love at all. Until you showed up. The very first moment I laid eyes on you, I knew you were somethin' special. Somethin' I wanted in my life. I'd lost most of my hope until I met you. You made me believe in somethin' again. And I know…" He looked down at the tiny velvet-covered box, turning it over nervously in his fingers, "I know that I've made some stupid mistakes. Mainly waitin' too long to tell you how I felt. I guess I never wanted to admit it to myself…maybe I got scared that you might reject me. Whatever it was, it stopped me from tellin' you how I felt. It's funny how I didn't realize what I had…what I should have done…until you left, and it was too late for me to do anything about it."

He finally looked up from the tiny box into Inara's face, and was surprised to see tears welling up in them. He took a deep breath and trudged on, needing to get it all said and done. Needing for her to truly realize how much she meant to him.

"'Nara…when you left, I was downright miserable. I couldn't sleep. I'd barely eat. You were gone…I thought forever…and it killed me. I'd just let you go. Without so much as a fight. Then…" He paused, searching for the right words, "then fate brought you back to me. And that day I vowed that I would do everything in my power to keep you from slipping away again. I promised myself that I would never again waste any time playing games with you. I'm in this for the long haul. I'm willing to commit to you. I want to spend every waking second with you, and to be near you while you sleep. I want to share my life…myself…everything I happen to have with you. It may not be much, but…it's yours if you'll have it." He fiddled with the box again. "If you'll have me." He opened the box and presented her with the ring. It wasn't much…but it was the nicest one he could afford.

Looking back up into Inara's eyes, Mal saw the tears begin to fall gently down her cheek. Mal was worried for a moment.

"Inara?" He asked uncertainly, "You're not…are you…did I? -"

He was cut off, spared the daunting task of finishing his awkward question when Inara launched herself into Mal's arms, wrapping her arms around his neck in a near chokehold and kissing him passionately, almost desperately.

Mal was startled for a moment before relaxing into the kiss, wrapping his arms around Inara and opening his mouth to allow her tongue entry. He kissed her back almost as desperately as she kissed him, held her just loosely enough so as not to hurt her, but tightly enough that it would have been impossible for anyone in the 'verse to separate them. After a moment…or maybe a year, Mal wasn't exactly sure…Inara broke away from him and looked at him with tear-filled eyes. Mal realized now that, for once, her tears were not because he'd said something wrong…they were because he'd done everything right. He brought a hand up and gently wiped away her tears with his thumb.

"So…should I take that as a yes?" Mal asked her, his trademark knee-weakening grin plastered to his face.

Inara just laughed and captured his mouth once again.

MLMLMLML

The entire crew of Serenity was sitting in the dining area waiting for Mal to break whatever news had been so important that he'd had to drag them all in there…well, almost everyone was waiting, anyway. Kaylee and Dannie stood off to the side, trying not to giggle as they looked around at the room of people who had no idea exactly what was going on. Dannie had to try especially hard not to giggle as she looked over at Jayne, who looked, as usual, as though he'd just swallowed a lemon whole. Apparently, when Mal had called this meeting, he'd dragged a still dormant Jayne out of bed.

Mal looked around at the quizzical expressions of his crew, grinning from ear to ear as he held tightly to Inara's hand.

"I've a huge announcement to make." Mal said brightly.

"Yeah, we kinda gathered that, on account of you called this crew meetin' an' disturbed people's peaceful slumber." Jayne said sarcastically. He was in a sour mood having been dragged out of bed before mid day-cycle, as well as being more than slightly confused by Mal's public display of affection toward Inara. They had all known about Mal and Inara, but Mal wasn't generally overly affectionate toward her in front of the rest of the crew. So the fact that he was very publicly holding her hand, knowing full well that it was in plain view of everybody, was more than a little disconcerting. Jayne was also more than slightly uncomfortable at the fact that Dannie looked…_happy_. She just wasn't like her usually dark, sullen, tormented self.

"Yeah, well…it was about time you got up." Mal said, a momentary frown crossing his handsome face. Then he brightened up again…a concept that was almost foreign to the crew. "As I was _saying_…" Mal continued, "Inara and I are engaged."

There was silence for a moment. Complete and utter silence. The crew (those of them that had just found out, anyway) just stared at Mal for a minute. None of them had ever thought he would take the plunge and finally commit to Inara.

Suddenly, huge grins broke out and there was a scraping of chairs and a rush of people getting up and crowding around Mal and Inara, offering their congratulations. The room was suddenly full of loud, excited chatter. In their corner off to the side, Kaylee and Dannie finally broke into giggles. Everyone was ecstatic…except, of course, for Jayne.

Jayne stayed sitting in his chair, a horrified look on his face as the information sank in. In her corner, Dannie's giggles turned into full-blown laughter. Barely managing to resist the urge to roll on the floor laughing, Dannie approached Jayne.

"Well, Jayne, I won the bet. Pay up. You owe me five hundred credits." She said, holding out her hand and giggling some more. Suddenly the room went quiet as everyone, hearing this comment, turned to face the two of them. Jayne's face took on a scowl as he dug into his pockets.

"Gorramit!" He growled, pulling out money and grudgingly handing it to Dannie, who was clearly relishing the moment.

"Wait…what bet?" Mal asked, eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"The bet I made with Jayne shortly after boarding the ship." Dannie explained, a smug smile written across her face. "I told him to give it three months. You'd break down and propose."

"Aw, hell Mal! Couldn't you have waited for _one_ gorram month?!" Jayne whined, watching as five hundred credits slipped away in the blink of an eye.

"Wait, this whole time you people have been placing bets on me?" Mal asked, flabbergasted. He was shocked and slightly outraged at the fact that people thought his personal life was a game.

"No, just Jayne and I." Dannie said, smirking. "You're so damn unpredictable nobody else liked the odds."

Dannie gave them all one last bright smile before skipping out of the room, the spoils of her bet with Jayne in hand, leaving Mal looking frustrated and flabbergasted and the rest of the crew, including Inara, looking highly amused.

Sorry…I meant to make this chapter a little more plot-oriented…but it kind of morphed into this. It sets a few things up and it's a nice comic little filler chapter…hope you enjoy it anyway. And FYI…the next two chapters will be posted together. Thanks for reading…reviews are much appreciated. Creative criticism especially. I'm not sure if I'm capturing characters right…and don't worry, we'll be seeing more of the others soon as well. I promise they won't be completely left out of the story.

Love always, Cat.


	4. A Fate Worse Than Death

Disclaimer: Nope, don't own it

Disclaimer: Nope, don't own it. Wish I did, but I don't. Oh well. I suppose I'll just have to deal. (Breaks down and Cries.) Wow. So much for being dignified.

AN: This is one of those chapters where you get a brief glimpse of what's happening in the present. I'm setting this up so that you get a few chapters of the past sandwiched in between the chapters surrounding the present until I've caught up to where I started the story. You'll know it's a present-based chapter if there's no title at the beginning of a chapter indicating when it took place. Got it? Good. Onto the story!

Kaylee was suddenly and fearfully aware of the eerie quiet that had descended over the ship. Having spent the last few hours listening to Dannie's shrieks from her locked bunk across the hall, the sudden quiet was terrifying. She had no idea what was happening…if Dannie had finally succumbed to the virus. Her usually bright, vibrant happiness had been eclipsed by pain and fear…fear of what the virus would do to her. She'd seen the results planetside…and they had terrified her.

Kaylee whimpered as she curled up on her bed, her body shaking violently as the room became suddenly and impossibly cold. No doubt due to the ever-climbing fever that had come with infection.

She had been sitting in her bunk, locked from the outside, for the better part of four hours. She hadn't been showing symptoms of the infection when she had been quarantined, but they had all know that it would come in due time…Kaylee had the distinct mark of infection.

So she had spent the last four hours in there, listening to Dannie's shrieks of pain, terrified at what she heard, and steeling herself for what she knew was to come. The pain had first struck just moments ago, subsiding as she began to shiver with her rising body temperature. All the mental preparation in the world, however, could not have prepared her for when the first wave of pain had hit her body. And judging by the fact that Dannie's screams had carried on for nearly four hours, it clearly wasn't going to end anytime soon.

Hot tears that scalded her skin as if they were boiling water leaked from her eyes. She was cold, terrified, in excruciating pain, and, worst of all…alone. There was a part of her that wanted to call out for Simon. She wanted nothing more than to have him here, by her side… to feel the heat radiating off his body as he held her in his arms, hear his soothing voice as he whispered sweetly in her ear, attempting to calm her as the virus ravaged her body. She wanted him close…because having him close would make her a little less afraid…would make what was happening a little more bearable. She knew that if she called him, he would come running…he would stay with her while she suffered. All she had to do was call out to him, and there wasn't anything…not the locked door, not Mal, not the fear of infection himself…that would keep him from her.

But she wouldn't. She couldn't. She would rather sit there and suffer, alone and terrified, in her bunk than to put him at risk of becoming infected. She wouldn't let it be her fault that he became infected. No matter how much she needed him here with her…she wouldn't ask that of him. She couldn't ask him to choose between his own safety and his undying love for her…even though she knew that he'd choose her without even a second thought.

She groaned loudly as another wave of pain hit her, this wave even stronger than the last. Her groan turned into a shriek as her insides crawled painfully, causing her to curl up in a pathetic little ball on the bed.

As this wave subsided, she heard shouting voices coming from the dining area somewhere above her. She'd heard the crash moments ago, what she assumed was the table being overturned as Mal threw Dominick across the room in a futile attempt to stop him from rushing to Dannie's side. The boy truly did love her…as much as Simon loved Kaylee. Dominick, however, lacked the self-control and logical thought that Simon possessed, having grown up in the Core. Dominick was the type to act first and think later. Which was no doubt what had resulted in him being tossed across the room by Mal.

"Anyone else wanna try something stupid?" Mal's voice cut through the sudden hushed silence overhead that had followed the loud crashing.

"Sir, Dom's unconscious." Came Zoe's voice. It sounded, for the most part, calm as ever, but Kaylee could detect a hint of fear and urgency in her voice.

"I have to get to Kaylee." Simon sounded stern and decided, "She's suffering. I need to be there with her."

Mal's voice responded, just as coldly. He sounded extremely tense. "You'll do no such thing. You try a stupid stunt like Dom did and that'll be you as well."

"I have to!" Simon argued, raising his voice. "She needs-"

"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW STUPID AND DANGEROUS THAT IS?" Mal roared, cutting Simon off. "GORRAMIT, BOY!" Mal's voice boomed out, then lowered as he allowed some semblance of emotion to enter it. "Doc…I know you love Kaylee. We all do. Very much. But you open that door, you allow anyone anywhere near her or you let her out, you run the risk of infecting the entire crew. That is something I cannot allow."

"Well what if I-"

"No, doc. Nobody goes near her. 'Specially not you. You're the expert in medicine…you're the best hope we have of finding a cure for this thing. You wanna help Kaylee, you stay away from her…you try to find that cure."

There was silence above. Obviously Simon was considering Mal's words.

"Now…see to Dom…make sure he's okay. And if it comes to it, tie him to the infirmary bed. He's not going anywhere near Dannie." Mal said. There was silence above, then a shuffling of feet across the floor.

As another excruciating wave of pain hit her on the heels of the first one, Kaylee realized that she had a long, painful road ahead of her.

Even worse than the pain she felt, however, was the sheer terror. This terror wasn't due to the thoughts of hours of excruciating pain ahead of her, though. She was terrified of what the infection was doing to her. Thanks again to the Alliance and their insane biological experimentation, she and Dannie both, along with the rest of the crew, should they become infected, were doomed to suffer a fate far worse than death…

AN: Okay, so…there's your little snippet of present happenings. When I finished this chapter, my theme song (the song I happened to be listening to at the time, which just happened to fit so perfectly) was 'Don't Fear the Reaper'. So yeah…it was just so poetic that I finish this chapter with the line "they were doomed to suffer a fate far worse than death…" Heh. The Reaper really doesn't seem so scary now, does he? Anyway…yeah…enough of my morbid babblings. All reviews (especially constructive criticism) are accepted and very much appreciated. :D

Love always, Cat.


	5. Three Months and Three Weeks Earlier

Disclaimer: You know just as well as I do that I own nothing

Disclaimer: You know just as well as I do that I own nothing. Do I wish I owned it…hell yeah! But as it doesn't appear that I will obtain ownership rights of anything anytime soon, I'll just have to stick to fanfic. (Dies a little on the inside).

AN: Thank you so very much for your wonderful reviews readers. I was kind of bummed when I first started writing, because I thought nobody was reading. Apparently I was wrong. So thank you very much for inspiring me to keep plugging along. Although I intend for this chapter to be a very much Dom/Dannie oriented chapter, I have been informed of the fact that River's absence has been bothering people a little. So fear not…River _will_ make an appearance in this chapter. And she _will_ do so in the form of the mischievous, conniving little brat Simon is always alluding to her being. Why? Because River knows best, of course! Teehee. Anyway, I'll let you all read now…and thank you so much for doing so. :D

**Three Months and Three Weeks Earlier**

"…Cao ni zu-zong shi-ba dai!" Dannie bellowed, making herself heard clear across the ship. In both directions.

"Well…I'm pretty sure my ancestors up to the eighteenth generation would be mighty offended by that." Came Dom's smug, albeit bellowed, response. "I, however, am not."

"UGH! YOU ARE SO RUTTING INFURIATING YOU RUTTING PI-GU!"

"Ouch…harsh words. I think I just died a little inside." Dom replied. You could almost _hear_ the smug smirk on his face. At least until Dannie got the bright idea to smack it off. Or rather, to ball up her fist and punch it off.

"OW! WHAT IN THE GORRAM RUTTING HELL DID YOU DO THAT FOR?" Dom bellowed.

"BECAUSE YOU RUTTING WELL DESERVED IT!" Dannie replied.

"YOU RUTTING LITTLE BITCH!" Dom screamed back. "IF YOU WEREN'T A WOMAN, I'D PUNCH YOU BACK!"

"WHY DON'T YOU GIVE IT A TRY ANYWAY?" Dannie shrieked.

"BECAUSE UNLIKE SOME AROUND HERE, I ACTUALLY HAPPEN TO HAVE STANDARDS AND DIGNITY!"

Mal groaned in his bed, rolling over and jamming his head under his pillow. It was too gorram early in the morning to be listening to their petty little arguments. Maybe the fact that they happened to be arguing so much lately was partially his fault. They hadn't had any time off the ship in nearly a month now. And seeing how they'd been cooped up together in such an enclosed space for such a long time, it was only natural that two people that seemed to hate each other as much as Dom and Dannie did would end up tryin' to tear each other's throats out.

Mal rolled over onto his back and sighed as the bellowing continued. He felt Inara shift beside him and knew full well that she was awake. In fact, he was pretty gorram sure that everyone on board Serenity was awake. None of them could sleep through that. Not even Jayne, the 'Verse's heaviest sleeper.

Through all the arguing and fighting and such that kept him up at night and woke him early every gorram morning, Mal was able to find one consoling thought…a silver lining that _almost_ made it all bearable. That no matter what Inara said, those two would never possibly even come close to starting a shipboard romance. He'd had a hard time coming to terms with Kaylee and Simon's relationship…even though he knew that they were both consenting adults who could make their own decisions…simply because he looked on Kaylee as a younger sister. Much in the same way he looked on River and Aydan. But he had. He just didn't think he could bear the thought of two sweet young girls like River and Aydan doing…things. Therefore, Mal was immensely comforted by the thought that Dom and Dannie would never happen.

MLMLMLML

After spending another hour on futile attempts to get back to sleep, Mal finally dragged himself out of bed with a heavy sigh. The noise of the argument had ceased more than half an hour before, but Mal found that even the newfound silence couldn't silence his screaming thoughts. He dressed quickly in the dark, stumbling more than a few times, and made his way out of the bunk as quietly as possible, so as not to wake Inara. She had fallen right back to sleep as soon as the argument had ended.

Mal made his way to the bridge, meaning to find somewhere he could sit and think, and was startled to find someone else already there. He stood silently in the doorway, watching as the young woman in the pilot's seat stared silently out at the starry black sky.

"Morning, Captain daddy." River said, turning her head to look at him, standing there in the doorway.

Mal winced. "Guess I shoulda known you'd notice me standing there. Sorry…didn't mean to disturb you."

"Quite alright." River said, a small smile crossing her face. "Knew you would be coming."

Mal nodded silently, walking over to the co-pilot's seat and sinking wearily into it.

"Say, 'lil albatross, I'n it a bit early for you to be up?" He asked after a long pause.

"Remnants of hostility linger in the air. Bad feelings make sleep difficult." River said. "Here is quiet. Relaxing stars soothe the burning. They quiet the loud thoughts."

Mal nodded. He'd been around her long enough to at least understand some of what she was saying. He got the gist of it, anyway. And at least since Miranda, she had become much more lucid, which made it easier to understand her.

"I know the feeling. I ain't slept a wink in near a month. It does help, though, sittin' here starin' out into the black."

River nodded, and they fell into a comfortable silence for a while. Just as Mal was beginning to wonder why Dannie and Dom had to be so gorram hostile to each other all the time, River spoke.

"Feel threatened." She said. Mal looked at her. She continued. "Both see through other's disguise…see the other for what they really are. See broken, damaged souls. Scared to know that they are seen as they are. Feel threatened by the other…exposed…naked…vulnerable. Put distance between them to create safety and self-assurance. Merely a self-defence mechanism developed over years of hiding from the world. Don't want others to know they are weak and broken. Keep the world out to keep from being hurt again. But have not been able to heal because have not been able to let go. Must learn to let in others before they can heal."

Mal considered River's words…for some strange reason, all of what she said seemed to make perfect sense to him. Perhaps because he was the same way. Broken and damaged…keeping the world on the outside to protect himself. He was only just beginning to heal…only now that he'd let Inara in. Then something clicked in Mal's brain. Something about the way River was speaking. As if she knew more than she was willing to admit…

"What is it they're hiding from?" Mal asked. "You know more than you're letting on, don't you?"

River shook her head. "Not my place to tell." She said, "Not my place to know…but their thoughts are so loud."

"So what do you suggest we do about all this?" Mal asked. He had a feeling that somewhere in her speech about Dom and Dannie she had been hinting that she had a solution to the problem. And he was long past trying to come up with one on his own. He figured if River understood the heart of the problem, she'd have a much better idea on how to fix it.

River smiled a secretive, knowing smile. "Bring them together. Have much more in common than they will admit. Will understand each other's pain. Will help them to heal."

Mal chuckled. "As much sense as that makes, 'lil one, there's a small hitch in your plan. Dom 'n' Dannie will barely talk civilly to each other under the best of circumstances. How do you propose we get them to sit down and talk about their darkest secrets?"

River smiled knowingly. "Captain daddy will let me try?"

Mal shook his head. "I'll tell you what 'lil albatross. If you can even get them into the same room together, I'll be impressed. But feel free to try."

River smiled a slightly disconcerting smile and rose from her seat, leaving the bridge and heading back to her bunk to scheme.

MLMLMLML

Later that morning, after Mal had eaten a quick breakfast of Protein…whatever the gorram hell it was he wasn't even sure, he called the entire crew into the dining area to inform them that they were coming up on Boros, where they would be taking a day's leave landside. Needless to say, everyone was thrilled with the announcement, particularly Dannie and Dom.

After the women had all decided that they were going to go shopping together, and Mal, Jayne, Simon and Dom had decided to go their separate ways, everyone rushed off to prepare for when they would arrive on Boros in about an hours' time.

About ten minutes after hey had all separated, however, shouts and curses could be heard making their way through the halls of the ship. Everybody knew who it was.

Jayne stood outside of his bunk, chuckling to himself as he heard Dannie shout some very colourful Chinese expletives. Girl had a mouth on her, he'd give her that.

Kaylee came skipping along down the hall toward her bunk and saw Jayne chuckling to himself while he stood at the door to his.

"One o' these days…" he mumbled under his breath, "one o' these days those two r'e gonna end up killin' each other."

Kaylee scoffed. It was so typical of a man not to recognize the signs of attraction.

"So typical of you men." Kaylee said. "Not even realizin' that those two are completely head over heels for each other."

"Yeah…okay." Jayne scoffed.

A brilliant thought suddenly struck Kaylee. She was going to be doing some serious shopping today…and she would no doubt need to replenish her financial supply…

"Alright Jayne. You sound awful sure of yourself. Care to make a little wager? I got 500 credits says they get together."

Jayne grinned. He'd lost 500 to Dannie only a week before, and he was now faced with the opportunity to gain it back. And then some.

"I got 600 says they kill each other first." Jayne grinned. Kaylee shook his hand and headed off in the direction of her bunk, gigging to herself. She knew full well that Jayne Cobb could never resist a wager. He was a gambling man through and through. Although, when it came to making bets on people's relationships, Jayne was no good. He should have just stuck to poker…

MLMLMLML

"…So we all meet back here in exactly 24 hours' time…agreed?" Mal said. He had a feeling that nearly everyone, with the exception of Jayne, would be back long before then…but he decided to give them a good long stay, just in case.

After various affirmative responses, everyone walked off in separate directions. Mal went off to find the nearest bar, Jayne went off to find the nearest brothel, Dom went off to find the nearest pool table, Simon went off in search of items he needed to restock on…and a little something for Kaylee, of course, and the women went off to browse the shopping district.

They had been perusing the stands for the better part of an hour, talking merrily and laughing together. All except for River, that is. Today, she happened to be unusually quiet. And she kept glancing over at Dannie with a secretive, not to mention somewhat disturbing, smile. Dannie was more than a little freaked out by this. She liked River a lot…in fact, she and River got along great. They'd really managed to bond over the last two months. But Dannie knew River well enough to know that when she was smiling like that, it never boded well. And the fact that the smile was directed at Dannie herself was more than a little unsettling.

"So…" Inara began, looking at a very exquisite looking decorative comb. "I gathered from his split lip that you and Dom were arguing again this morning." She shot Dannie an amused smile. "That and the fact that I was met with a rude awakening by some very colourful strings of curses."

Dannie blushed. "Sorry." She said sheepishly, "I normally don't get angry enough to hit someone…generally I have better self-control than that. I haven't taken a swing at anyone in anger since I was twelve years old." She grinned fondly at the memory. "I was quite the little scrapper on my home world. I was never the most popular kid in school…and it didn't help any that the majority of the other children in my school came from families that supported the Alliance. The last time I punched someone was because they told me that my daddy was going to burn in hell for being a Brown coat."

There was silence for a moment. Then Inara spoke up, a warm smile on her face. "Now I see why you and Mal get along so well."

Everyone broke out in a fit of laughter.

"But Dom…" Dannie continued, avoiding everyone's gazes by suddenly becoming very interested in a pair of dark denim pants, "he makes me lose control of myself. He's just so…"

"Swai?" Kaylee supplied helpfully.

"Yeah, and infuriating!" Dannie replied. Then it occurred to her what Kaylee had just said…and what she'd just agreed to. "Wait…_shuh muh_? NO! He's not _swai_! He's rude and ignorant and stubborn and damn near impossible to deal with! I have a strong gut feeling he's Lucifer incarnate! That rutting _hun-dahn_!"

The other women just roared with laughter. They knew full well that Dannie was making a desperate and hopeless attempt to cover her little slip. And none of them were convinced in the least.

"_Ni ta ma de. Tian-xia suo-you-de ren. Dou gai-si_" Dannie muttered under her breath, paying for her purchases with some of the money she had won from Jayne and storming back in the direction of the ship.

River just smiled even wider as she slipped away unnoticed to follow Dannie back to Serenity. The time was very near to put her plan into action.

MLMLMLML

Dom had spent a little over an hour off the ship before returning. He'd played a few rounds of pool and a poker game, amassing an impressive amount of winnings, but he'd found that something was missing. Something felt…wrong somehow. It was too…quiet.

Even being surrounded by alcohol and beautiful women didn't seem quite right to him. He tried not to notice the fact that every time a tall, auburn-haired woman entered the bar, his heart leapt slightly, only to sink into his stomach when he got a good look at them. He tried not to think of the bright green eyes that he'd tried to stare down so many times they'd been permanently burned into his memory.

He brought his hand up to his swollen, sore lip. He knew he'd deserved it. He'd been a real ass. But somehow…he couldn't bring himself to be any other way around her. Perhaps he knew deep down somewhere that he was attracted to her, but too afraid to let anyone close to him. Maybe it was because he knew that she made him weak and vulnerable. Because he could feel her see through his tough exterior to his weak, broken self. But he would never admit any of it, even to himself.

Arriving back at the ship, Dom wearily made his way toward his bunk. Halfway there, however, he was intercepted by River.

"Hello Dom." She said sweetly. Dom smiled. River was kind of cute…in a little sisterly sort of way. It was sort of how he'd some to think of her, actually…he'd never had siblings of his own, so it was kind of nice to be able to play big brother for once.

"Hey River. Have fun shopping today?" Dom asked. River smiled and nodded.

"Something to show you." She grinned. She grabbed his hand and dragged him toward one of the spare passenger bunks. She pulled him inside the room and he froze, instantly tensing up…trying to ignore the fact that his heart had just leapt. He found himself face-to-face with the one person he'd subconsciously wanted to see all day, yet the one person he most wanted to avoid at this particular moment in time.

"Aydan." He said. "Wh-what are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question." Dannie asked, a clearly annoyed expression on her face. He felt a horrible empty feeling in the pit of his stomach at seeing this, for some reason unknown to him. It wasn't like he overly cared whether or not she'd wanted to see him anyway.

They locked eyes and stared at each other so intently that neither of them noticed as River crept out of the room, a mischievous smile on her face.

"River said she had something to show me." Dom shrugged, turning to say something to River. Only now did he realize her sudden absence. "River?"

Both of their eyes went wide as they heard the crisp, clear sound of a lock being clicked into place. Dominick and Aydan looked at each other with wide eyes before they both rushed toward the door. Dom got there first, wrapping his hand firmly around the doorknob and attempting to pull it open. It wouldn't budge.

"We're locked in here!" Dom said in utter disbelief. "River locked us in here!"

"You're joking, right?" Dannie asked. "_Please_ tell me you're joking."

Dom's face was dead serious as his grey eyes bored into hers. "I wish I was."

MLMLMLML

River walked away from the locked passenger dorm and toward the cargo bay, on her way to rejoin the shopping party. She was followed the entire way by Dannie and Dom's shouts and curses as they banged on the door, demanding they be released.

She knew it was harsh. Somewhere deep down, she even felt a little guilty. Only a little. But it had to be done. They had to talk to each other. They needed each other in order to be able to heal from their traumatic pasts. It was the only way. And she couldn't allow them to hide from each other any longer.

MLMLMLML

Dom and Dannie had been trapped in the spare passenger dorm for well over an hour. They'd stopped calling for help after the first fifteen minutes. It was obvious that nobody would be coming anytime soon. So they'd sat there for the past 45 minutes staring silently at each other. Each was lost in their own thoughts, contemplating the other.

It was Dannie who spoke first. She'd seen Dom absentmindedly run his tongue over the fresh cut on his lip and grimaced, feeling a stab of guilt.

"Look, Dominick…" She began. He interrupted her.

"Please, call me Dom." He said.

"Alright fine…Dom…" She said slowly. She sighed. Swallowing her pride was always hard. "I'm really sorry I hit you earlier. I'm not sure what exactly came over me. I'm not normally that violent."

Dom stared at her. He wasn't sure if he was hearing correctly. He searched her eyes and was surprised to find that there was no trace of her usual mocking tone in them. "Wait…are you actually-"

"Yes, I'm apologizing, shocking though it may be." She said dryly. "And you making such a big deal about it is really making me regret it."

Dom looked at her for a second, then his face split into a wide grin. "Don't worry about it. I deserved it, anyway. I was being a real _hun-dahn._"

"That's what I said." She mumbled. He chuckled.

"I'd also like to complement you on your wonderful shot." He grinned. "Half the men I've ever gotten into a fistfight with couldn't punch half as hard as you."

Dannie just looked at him for a moment, and then, to his immense surprise, she laughed. It was a sound he'd never quite heard before…until now, he hadn't even been sure she ever did laugh. She always seemed to be dark and brooding. The sound delighted him…it was warm and round and full of genuine mirth. It warmed him to the core to know that he'd been the one to make her laugh.

"Well, you see, I was sort of a fighter from birth." She grinned. "A real scrapper throughout my whole childhood…"

MLMLMLML

They weren't sure how long exactly they had been trapped in that room together. They had lost track of time after the first two hours. However long it had been, it had actually been…fun. They'd spent the whole time swapping humourous childhood stories, laughing hysterically and enjoying themselves immensely. Dom had even remembered that he'd had a deck of cards stashed in his pocket, and so they'd had a couple of hands of poker.

Throughout their conversation, Dom had noticed that Dannie had artfully avoided bringing up the subject of her parents. He wouldn't have noticed, had he not been working so hard toward the same objective. His parents were a part of his past he avoided talking about like the plague.

As she beat his full house with a straight flush, he silently wondered why she hadn't been pressuring him to talk about his parents. It seemed like nearly everyone he'd ever met had. And furthermore…what was so bad about hers that she didn't want to talk about them.

Dom soon found that his curiosity began to override his own need to hide from his past.

"So Dannie…" He began, dealing out a new hand. "You seem to be…very artfully, might I add…avoiding talking about your parents. Generally, parents have a habit of appearing in at least one childhood story. You've managed to avoid the subject altogether. Why don't you want to talk about them?"

Dannie's bright eyes went suddenly dark. She clammed up.

"Because I just don't okay?" She said coldly. Dom felt sorry for her.

"I know what it's like…" He said quietly. "Having something to hide, I mean."

"Who says I'm hiding?" Dannie asked aggressively. Dom could see it was a defence mechanism. He suddenly felt compelled to talk about his parents…something he'd never felt the need to discuss with anyone.

"I do." He said, "I recognize it. Because I hide a hell of a lot." He seemed to stare off into space for a moment before refocusing his grey eyes on Dannie.

"As you know already, I've been on my own since I was fourteen." He began, "What nobody knows is why. My father was a Brown Coat in the war…strongly opposed unification. I was fourteen the year the war ended…my father was among the masses that died just before the battle of Serenity valley. When my mother received the wave informing us of his death, she was devastated. So much so, in fact, that she went insane with grief and committed suicide. And so I was left on my own, orphaned and abandoned at fourteen. I left my home planet shortly after and never looked back."

By the time Dom had finished his short but tragic story, Dannie could see the ghosts of unshed tears in his eyes. All thought of the anger she had felt toward him before had melted away into pity.

"I'm…I'm so sorry." Dannie finally managed to say, tears filling her eyes. "I had no idea…" She said quietly, barely more than a whisper.

"That was the idea." He grinned. "I've never talked about it before. Don't quite know why I did now."

Dannie looked at him with a tortured expression. She knew the suffering that came with being abandoned. She also knew that she needed to confide in Dante, as he had just confided in her. After two years of holding it in, not mentioning it to a soul, she was finally forced to face her pain and recount her trauma.

"I was abandoned too." She said. "Not quite so young, though. It was two years ago. My parents left to complete a delivery on one of the rim planets…we were supposed to be going on vacation." Tears flowed freely from her eyes as she spoke. She didn't bother trying to old them back. She had for far too long. "They were supposed to contact me…to tell me where I was supposed to meet them. But they never did. They disappeared without a trace. I spent an entire year searching the 'Verse for them, but there was no trace left of them anywhere. They were gone…they'd just left me there to rot. Tossed me aside like I meant nothing to them. I though they loved me. I thought I meant everything to them. And one day, out of the blue, they abandon me."

There was silence for a while. They just stared at each other. They were completely vulnerable. Yet there seemed to be a newly formed, silent understanding between them. They no longer had anything to hide from the other. And both were relieved to find that they weren't alone in the 'Verse…that there was at least one other person out there that understood their pain.

After a while, there was a distinct clicking sound coming from the direction of the door. Both stood up from their seats on the floor. Dannie wiped away the remnants of her tears.

"Looks like River finally came back to release us." She smiled weakly. Dom nodded. "Maybe I should go then."

She turned and walked toward the door, Dom staring after her. Her hand had just about found the handle when she was stopped by the sound of his voice.

"Or you could stay." He said. She turned around to look at him, and before either of them knew what was happening, Dom had crossed the room and thrown his arms around her, kissing her deeply, desperately, the intensity of two months of sexual tension being released in one mind-numbing, dizzying kiss.

Dannie was shocked at first, then melted into him, relinquishing the last of her self-control. There was no more need for barriers or distance between them; they had shared their darkest secrets. They knew more about each other now than anyone else on the ship could ever possibly know about them. With the exception, of course, of River, who knew everything about everyone. Dannie had a sneaking suspicion that River had meant for all of this to happen. That was why she had locked them in that room together.

Dannie pushed Dominick backwards toward the bed. Dom lay down on his back, pulling her down with him, and all without breaking their kiss. Their hands roamed each other's body freely, touching as much of each other as they possibly could. Things became even more heated and clothes began to disappear onto the floor. Before either of them knew it, they were down to their undergarments. Dom took in the sight of Dannie's body with an awestruck look on his face. Even in her bra and panties, she looked like a goddess.

Aydan also took in his toned form. Not too muscular, but well defined. And he was easily the most attractive man she'd ever seen.

Breathing heavily, Dom kissed her hard, gently easing her back onto the bed. Suddenly, they were both completely naked, taking in the other in all their glory. Dom let out a shaky breath and looked at her, a question in his eyes. Aydan nodded by way of a response.

"It's okay." She breathed. "I'm ready."

MLMLMLML

Mal and the others arrived back to Serenity after several hours of exploring the city. Shockingly enough, even Jayne managed to make it back that night.

As everyone sat around in the mess, eating dinner and laughing cheerfully, Mal wondered aloud, "Where're Dom and Dannie? First real food we've had in months and they're missing it."

Everyone shrugged. Except River, who smiled mischievously.

"Locked them in a passenger dorm."

Everyone looked at her.

"Come again?" Mal asked, an incredulous look on his face.

"Locked them in a passenger dorm. Needed to sort out problems, so I locked them in a passenger dorm. Unlocked door several hours ago, but they never came out."

A suddenly horrified look crossed Mal's face. "You _what_? Why the gorram hell would you do that?"

"Captain daddy said I was free to try whatever to get Dom and Dannie to resolve conflict. Got them together."

Mal stood up, suddenly and forcefully, and ran down the hallway toward the passenger dorm.

MLMLMLML

Dom awoke suddenly to a hammering on the door. He looked down at his chest, to where Dannie's head rested. She flinched at the noise, but turned over and tried to go back to sleep.

As there was another round of hammering on the door, Dom struggled out from under a thoroughly annoyed looking Dannie, quickly grabbed and put on his boxers, and answered the door.

Dom was met with a sincerely disturbing sight. Mal's gun. More specifically, the barrel of Mal's gun.

"WHAT THE GORRAM HELL HAVE YOU BEEN DOING IN HERE?" Mal roared, catching sight of Dannie, still laying on the bed wrapped in a sheet. She immediately sat up, a terrified look on her face.

"That's it, boy!" Mal growled, "You and I are gonna have some serious words!"

With that, Mal grabbed a handful of Dom's hair and, still pointing the gun at him, dragged Dom into the mess.

Everyone had been stunned by the yelling. Now, however, they were just plain terrified. Here was Mal, dragging Dom behind him, brandishing a gun. Dom was dressed in just a pair of boxers.

"Sit!" Mal ordered, shoving Dom into a chair and pointing the gun in his face.

"MAL! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!" Inara shrieked, rising from her seat. "Put down the gun. You're terrifying the poor boy!"

"Good!" Mal yelled, not taking his eyes or his gun off of Dom. "Then maybe he'll learn not to take advantage of innocent girls! Assuming I don't just shoot him right now, that is."

"Mal, what is god's name are you-" Inara began, but she was stopped immediately by the rushed entrance of Dannie. Dannie had put on the first clothes that had come into her hands…which just so happened to be her underwear and Dom's t-shirt. Suddenly, everything became quite clear to everyone. If it weren't for the fact that there was a very real possibility that Mal might shoot Dom, nearly everyone at the table would have burst out laughing at that moment.

"MAL! NO! STOP!" Dannie yelled.

"This scumbag took advantage of you!" Mal growled, his finger twitching dangerously atop the trigger.

"No, Mal, he didn't. Damn it, I'm an adult! An adult who happens to be perfectly capable of making my own decisions! I'm not a child, Mal! And I'm not _your_ child! What I do or do not choose to do with Dom is none of your concern!"

There was a tense silence. Mal stared at her, shocked. He knew she was right…he knew he had no hope of arguing the point. It didn't make him any less inclined to murder Dom, though.

Mal let the hand holding the gun drop into his lap. Dom leapt up and out of the chair, retreating a safe distance across the room. Dannie rushed over to him, flinging her arms around him, making it abundantly clear to Mal that this was her decision, whether he liked it or not. He groaned.

"Fine." He finally conceded, "I may not be able to control what you decide to do or who you decide to do it with. But there will be no public displays of affection between the two of you on my boat, you hear?"

"But-" Dannie began to argue. Mal cut her off.

"There will be no arguments over this. It's either that or I flush Dom out the airlock right now."

There was a tense silence. Mal and Dannie stared at each other for a moment.

"Now go put some clothes on. Both of you. Then get back out here and have some dinner 'fore it's all gone."

Dom and Dannie walked off without another word to get dressed. Laughter suddenly burst out round the table.

With a giggle and a huge smile, Kaylee reached a hand out toward Jayne.

"Aw, Gorramit!" Jayne groaned, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small bag of money, placing it in Kaylee's outstretched hand. Simon gave a smile and a laugh from where he sat beside Kaylee, turning to kiss her tenderly on the lips.

"Have I told you lately how much I love you? Especially when you make Jayne want to cry?"

Kaylee giggled. "You could always tell me again."

The general mood around the table seemed to be one of mirth and entertainment, with the exception of Mal, who still looked as though he wanted to shoot something.

TBC…

AN: Okay, so there you go people…I actually rather liked how this chapter turned out. I hope you did too. I tried to infuse as much humour into it as I possibly could…and now that I've covered the Dannie/Dom Dynamic (Alliteration. Teehee.) I intend to focus more on the other characters in this story. Yeah, I know…shocking. And just so you all know, it's going to start Rayneing (sorry…the pun was just too good) very soon. Teehee. All reviews are much appreciated.

Love always, Cat.


	6. Three Months and One Week Earlier

Disclaimer: You know just as well as I do that I own nothing

Disclaimer: You know just as well as I do that I own nothing. Do I wish I owned it…hell yeah! But as it doesn't appear that I will obtain ownership rights of anything anytime soon, I'll just have to stick to fanfic. (Dies a little on the inside).

AN: Thanks again to those who read and review…I appreciate it all very much. And it makes me feel good about my writing. So thanks again. Sorry this has been so long in coming…you see, I got a bit of writer's block with one of my Moonlight fics, so it's taken me a while to be able to get back to this one. Thanks for your patience and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Three Months and One Week Earlier

When Dannie awoke she was vaguely aware of the absence of the warm body that had accompanied her every night for the last few weeks. Opening her eyes, she sat up and stretched before surveying the room around her. As she had suspected, Dom was no longer in her bunk with her.

With a huge yawn, Dannie got up out of her bed, crossed to the dresser, and began rummaging around in it for clothes.

FFFFFFFF

Dannie arrived at the table to find Zoe, Mal, and Inara sitting there, chatting animatedly amongst themselves. As Dannie entered the room, they all stopped talking to look at her.

"Mornin' Dannie." Mal greeted with a smile.

"Nice to see you finally decided to join the living." Inara added. A chuckle broke out amongst those at the table.

"I see you even decided to wear your _own_ clothes this morning." Zoe added with a laugh. Inara went from chuckling to full-out laughing at this, while Mal's expression went suddenly sour, soliciting even more laughter from Zoe and Inara.

Dannie just rolled her eyes, shaking her head as she turned to a cupboard and began pulling out dishes and food for her breakfast. It had been two weeks since Mal had caught her with Dom, two weeks since she'd come running into the room dressed in nothing but underwear and Dom's t-shirt, but everyone, Zoe in particular, seemed to be determined in the belief that they should never let her live it down. The sole exception to this was, of course, Mal, who was still in denial over the whole situation.

As Dannie stood with her back to Mal, Zoe, and Inara, she felt a pair of strong, familiar arms lace themselves around her waist. A body pressed itself against her, and she leaned happily into the embrace.

"Morning, _bao bei._" Dom whispered in her ear, gently rocking her from side to side.

"Morning, Dom." Dannie replied, turning around in her boyfriend's embrace and capturing his lips in a soft, sensual kiss.

"HEY!" Dom and Dannie broke apart, startled, and turned around to face the source of the outburst: Mal. "What in the good gorram do you think you're doing? What have I told you about public displays of affection on my boat?"

Dom looked at Mal, a slightly fearful look on his face. Apparently, he hadn't quite forgotten what the barrel of Mal's gun looked like close-up. Dannie, however, smirked at Mal.

"Since when does anyone on this ship actually listen to you anyway?" She shrugged, before resuming her passionate and very _public_ kissing of Dom.

Simon and Kaylee walked into the room just as Mal let out an infuriated groan. A glance in the direction of Dom and Dannie immediately told them why, and Kaylee burst out into a fit of giggles while Simon just smirked, revelling in the knowledge that at that moment, Dannie and Dom were making Mal positively furious. Simon liked Mal well enough, and they had definitely been friendlier to each other since Miranda, but Simon still believed that Mal could stand to be put in his place once in a while, and Dannie knew just how to do that. And, it _was_ more than mildly entertaining to see Mal frustrated.

At the table, Inara was also trying very hard not to giggle, while Zoe was laughing openly. She definitely respected Dannie, even if the little spitfire was rather blatantly insubordinate from time to time. In fact, if she was honest with herself, Zoe saw a lot of herself in Dannie. Before the war, that is.

Mal was the only person in the room not even remotely amused by the whole situation. What he didn't know, however, was that the situation was so funny _because_ he wasn't amused. He sat at the table glaring at Dom and Dannie for a moment before finally sighing and turning miserably back to Zoe and Inara.

"You know, I do believe that girl is gonna be the death of me."

Zoe smiled and nodded. "You know, Sir, I do believe you're right about that."

He turned to Inara, a grimace on his face. "If this is what bein' a father's like, remind me never to have kids."

Inara's demeanour changed immediately. For a split-second she went completely still, her face taking on a blank yet serious expression. Then, as suddenly as it had appeared, the look was gone. She plastered a smile to her face and excused herself quickly from the table.

As Inara left the room, Zoe, Dannie, and Kaylee shot Mal dirty looks and followed her out, leaving Mal, Dom and Simon completely alone. As Simon took a seat at the now nearly deserted table, Mal gave him a confused look.

"What, did I say something wrong?"

FFFFFFFF

As Inara reached her shuttle, she was almost in tears. She had been fighting them back up until this point, but she was reaching a point where she couldn't contain them any longer.

She threw open the door and, not even bothering to shut it behind her, hurled herself onto the bed and began to sob.

Gently knocking on the doorframe before entering, Zoe, Kaylee, and Dannie all entered the shuttle.

"Please go away." Inara sobbed.

"We can't just leave you here like this, 'Nara." Kaylee said. She approached the bed and sat down gingerly on it, gently stroking Inara's hair. After a moment, Kaylee gently pulled Inara up into a sitting position and hugged her while she continued to sob. Zoe and Dannie made themselves comfortable on the couch while Inara continued to sob into Kaylee's shoulder.

After about ten minutes, Inara finally calmed down and stopped crying. There was silence in the shuttle as Inara took the tissue Kaylee offered her and gently wiped away the last of her tears. The silence dragged on for a few moments before Dannie finally spoke.

"So…how far along are you?"

Inara looked at her, a shocked, somewhat fearful expression in her eyes.

"What are you talking about? What makes you think-"

Zoe put up a hand to silence her.

"Look," She began, looking pointedly at Inara, "The Captain may be oblivious and a complete moron-" The room was suddenly full of chuckles, "-but we sure as hell aren't. Did you honestly think we wouldn't make the connection? 'Specially after such an obvious reaction."

Inara just looked sullenly at her feet for a moment. Kaylee gave her a smile and a reassuring squeeze.

"About two months."

Excited chatter filled the enclosed space for a moment as congratulations and the odd squeal from Kaylee filled the shuttle. After the chaotic din of voices had finally quieted, Kaylee spoke.

"Aw, 'Nara, this is such amazin' news! You're gonna be a mommy! You should be ecstatic about this."

"I was, until…" Inara broke off, "Well you heard Mal. He doesn't want any children. I was going to tell him today, but now…now I just can't."

"Aw, 'Nara, I'm sure the Cap'n didn't mean it that way. You know Mal…he's a moron. He never thinks before he says things."

There was laughter once more in the shuttle. Even Inara managed to chuckle weakly.

"I just…" Inara began, "I just don't know how to tell him. What if he reacts badly? What if he's angry? What if he really doesn't want this baby and resents me for it?"

"Shh…" Kaylee soothed, sensing that Inara was becoming upset again.

"He won't." Dannie said reassuringly. "He might be a little shocked at first, but it'll be fine. You'll see."

"I suppose." Inara said, not sounding at all sure.

FFFFFFFF

It had been several days since Inara had confessed to Zoe, Dannie, and Kaylee about the baby. Inara hadn't told Mal yet, as she was still unsure of what his reaction would be to the news. The other women on the ship had a pretty good idea that River also knew, having picked up on it with her psychic abilities. To Inara's immense relief, however, River had decided not to say anything to the Captain.

"Well," Mal said, standing up at the head of the table, presumably to make an announcement. "I got good news for all of you. Got word just this mornin' from Fanty and Mingo, and seems we got ourselves a job lined up. We're pullin' a heist on an armoured transport ship gonna be stoppin' over on a moon called Midas."

"Golden touch." River said with a small smile.

"Come again?" Mal asked, a confused expression on his face.

"The story of King Midas was an old Earth-That-Was fairytale." Dannie explained.

"King Midas was greedy. Wished for whatever he touched to turn to gold." River said, "When his wish was granted, _everything_ he touched became gold. Even people. He finally starved to death, alone and surrounded by his gold, unable to eat because his food became gold when it reached his mouth."

There was silence for a moment.

"Well," Mal said with a half-grin. "If the name 'Midas' is any indication of how this heist is gonna turn out, then I conjure it's a mighty appropriate name. The 'gold' part sounds nice. The whole creepifyin' 'guy-starvin'-to-death' part is slightly less encouraging, however."

The table burst into laughter. Even River was giggling. Mal looked over at Inara and grinned even wider at her hearty laughter. She'd been…different the last few days. Not nearly as happy as she usually was, and definitely very withdrawn. Mal couldn't for the life of him figure out what was wrong with her. He'd tried everything he could think of to snap her out of it, but nothing seemed to work. She was unbearably distant, and he could tell that something was really bothering her. He hated seeing her like that, wanting nothing more than to shoot whatever was bothering her right between the eyes. So seeing her laugh, really laugh, for the first time in days warmed him to the core and made his world suddenly seem right.

"So here's what's gonna happen…" Mal continued. He spent the rest of the morning going over the plan with Serenity's crew. He had a gut feeling that, for once, things might just go his way.

FFFFFFFF

After several days of meticulous planning and preparations for the heist, Mal and his team finally left for the heist on the moon known as Midas. Kaylee, Simon, Inara, and Dom stayed behind on the ship, while Mal, Zoe, River, and Jayne took the mule, followed by Dannie on a considerably smaller craft they'd managed to procure a few months back.

Dom wasn't particularly thrilled about this situation for several reasons. Firstly, he wouldn't be there to ensure Dannie's safety amidst the utter chaos that was sure to ensue. Secondly, he was missing out on all of the action. Unfortunately, though, he had to admit to himself that there was a definite method behind Mal's madness. Although Dom was a fair fighter and some much-needed muscle, he was also a very talented pilot. Nearly as good as River, in point of fact. And seeing as Mal had more use for a reader on this particular job than he did for Dom, it was only logical that Dom stayed behind on the ship in case they needed to make a quick getaway.

Dannie had been chosen to go on the heist for several reasons. Firstly, she was a genius when it came to anything computerized, which would come in handy on this particular heist because she would need to help them override the power-locks on the armoured shuttle. Secondly, she was a master of combat, both armed and unarmed, being the daughter of a former soldier, so she would definitely come in handy if any type of fighting were to break out. Which was extremely likely, given the fact that Mal's plans had a pretty extensive history of horribly backfiring. Although, when Dannie and Dom went with him on jobs, Mal's Karmically bad luck seemed to improve greatly.

It was, however, the first time Mal had gone on a job without having both Dannie and Dom with him. So he had no way of knowing that the secret to his thus-far successful jobs had been the combination of Dannie and Dom, even if there had been tension between the two of them on those previous jobs. And Mal also had no way of knowing that this little slip-up would ultimately lead to catastrophe…

FFFFFFFF

Mal and the others were preparing to leave. They had everything they needed, guns, ammunition, tools, etc., and were all getting settled into the mule. Mal stood beside the mule, Zoe and Jayne already sitting in it. Mal reached over and had just grabbed River around the waist to lift her into the mule when she grabbed his arms frantically, demanding his attention.

Mal was startled for a moment. Just a moment age she'd been the cute, happy, if somewhat slightly off River. Now she looked like she was terrified. Mal was more that a little disturbed by her sudden change in attitude, and froze, searching her face.

"River? Lil' one, what's wrong?" He asked, concerned. He didn't like where this was headed.

"We shouldn't do the job." River answered, a somewhat distant look in her eyes, almost as though she were looking right through him. Mal began to panic.

"Why, River? What's gonna happen?" Mal pressed, grabbing her arms in an attempt to make her focus on him. It seemed to work. He watched as River's eyes focused on his own and a frown crossed her face.

"I don't know." She answered finally. "But there's metal in the air. The copper makes it hard to breathe."

"Oh…" Mal said, a silent sigh of relief escaping his body. "Is that all?"

Mal knew for a fact that Midas was a mining planet, specializing in precious metals. There would no doubt be metallic residue in the air and it could have an affect on them.

"Thanks for the heads-up River, but I already knew about the metal. Don't worry, everything's gonna be fine. The Doc'll take care of us, anyone gets sick."

River nodded, but still looked wary. She was almost sure that that wasn't what she'd meant, but it did sort of make sense. She released her grip on Mal's arms and allowed him to lift her up onto the mule. Looking around him, he found Zoe, Jayne, Kaylee (who was currently in the cargo bay with them) and Dannie all staring at him.

"Well, come on people, let's get a move on! We've got an armoured shuttle to rob, and we ain't got all day to do it."

Everyone looked away and continued with their preparations. Fifteen minutes later, Zoe, Mal, Jayne, and River set off in the mule, followed closely by Dannie in the other craft.

FFFFFFFF

"Well, ain't this a rather interestin' turn of events." Mal commented with a smirk.

"That it is, sir." Zoe replied, casting him a sidelong glance.

They both stood with their guns pointed at the pilots of the shuttle, who had their guns pointed at Mal, Zoe, and the rest of the Serenity crew that had come along on the heist. They had just completed the robbery and had loaded the payload onto the Mule when the reinforcements showed up. Nine feds had shown up unexpectedly, answering a silent alarm signal emitted by the Pilots of the armoured shuttle just before they'd been bound and knocked unconscious. The two shuttle pilots were now standing amid the feds, looking slightly bruised and dazed, but otherwise unconscious. Each of the nine feds had a gun in each hand. Six guns were currently trained on Mal, five on Zoe, three on Jayne, and two each on River and Dannie.

In turn, Mal, Zoe, Jayne, River, and Dannie all had their guns pointed at the feds. It was obvious, however, that there was no way they could win in a fight against so many armed feds, being outnumbered in both guns and men, but that didn't mean they wouldn't try.

While Mal, Zoe, and Jayne all had their attention fixed on the feds standing before them, Dannie shot River a sidelong glance. She went over a plan of attack in her mind, knowing that River would no doubt pick up on her thoughts. She was planning on an ambush attack, opening fire on the feds suddenly and without warning. River turned and caught her gaze, shaking her head almost indiscernibly. River was calm on the exterior, but there were untold amounts of fear in her eyes. Seeing that look, Dannie felt an involuntary shiver run down her spine. She knew that, for River to be so obviously shaken, something bad was about to happen.

Then it did.

It happened so fast that Dannie wasn't entirely sure which side started it. All she knew was that one moment she, Mal, Zoe, Jayne, and River were all being ordered by the feds to stand down, and the next minute all hell had broken loose, and she was in the middle of a raging gunfight.

Jayne immediately sprang into action, barrelling toward one of the feds. As he took out the one he'd targeted, another attacked him from behind. The fed knocked him to the ground, knocking his gun several feet away from him. And suddenly, Jayne Cobb found himself face-to-face with the barrel of the Fed's gun, unarmed and unable to defend himself. He swallowed hard. This was the end. He just knew it.

But suddenly, out of nowhere, River appeared behind the Fed and made short work of him. Kicking him in the middle of his back, she stepped back as the Fed fell to the ground, dropping his gun. She wasted no time in killing him, quickly reaching down and snapping his neck.

Time seemed to stop for a moment. River looked Jayne in the eye, and Jayne found himself staring back into hers. Little Crazy had just saved him. After all he'd done to her, after all the grief he'd caused her…she'd just saved his life. _His_. Jayne Cobb's. Knowingly and with intent.

The moment of silent respect and mutual understanding was ended abruptly as another Fed came charging at River out of nowhere, and River turned away to fight back. Coming to his senses, Jayne quickly grabbed his gun, jumped to his feet, and charged back into the fight.

Dannie was looking at the scene of chaos around her and nearly jumped out of her skin as she heard a shot fly right past her ear, lodging itself into the neck of one of the feds preparing to fire at her. As the fed fell bleeding and flailing violently to the ground, she turned to see Zoe standing behind her, favourite gun still raised and smoking. Dannie gave her a nod of thanks before turning back to the fed approaching her. This fed had apparently lost his guns and, unarmed, charged at Dannie. Dannie whirled around quickly just as the fed was about to attack her from behind. As he threw a punch, Dannie grabbed his fist mid-swing, twisting his arm painfully behind his back and tossing him to the side. She glanced sideways over at River, who was fighting off two at once and was very easily holding her own. Dannie watched her for a moment in awe. Though Dannie was gifted when it came to combat skills, and indeed a master of combat in all forms, River was definitely better. And Dannie knew it. She secretly wished she possessed such prowess when it came to fighting…although she knew better than to be completely envious. River's talents in combat had come at an extremely high price.

The fight lasted only a few moments. Dannie took out three of the feds in total, firing a shot here and delivering a roundhouse kick to the face there. As Dannie tossed a fourth fed to the ground, she paused to look around her at how the others were doing. In doing so, she had forgotten the most important rule of fighting: never turn you back on your opponent.

Mal saw it before Dannie had time to even turn around. He was fighting another fed a few feet away from her, and she was so engrossed in what was happening with him that she didn't see the fed she'd tossed to the ground moments before reach for a pistol he found discarded beside him. But Mal did.

Giving the fed he was currently fighting a final punch, Mal launched himself toward Dannie.

"DANNIE! NO! WATCH OUT!" he shouted, causing her to turn around. A look of horror crossed her face as she turned around, finding herself looking down at the barrel of a gun. She knew it was too late. She didn't have time to do anything. She didn't even have time to get out of the way.

Shots rang out. A shocked, horrified expression crossed her face as she fell to her knees…

…In front of Mal. Who had jumped in front of her and intercepted the bullets just as they had been fired.

The fed cocked the pistol and aimed at Dannie again, pulling the trigger. Only to realize that the gun was out of ammunition.

Dannie kneeled in front of Mal for only a split second, shocked and horrified, before the anger struck her. She heard the click of the pistol as the fed tried to fire the empty gun at her. He looked up at her, horrified, as she picked up her own pistol from off the ground and aimed it at the forehead of the fed. She stare was full of cold fury, her eyes hollow, as she pulled the trigger and exacted her revenge. She pumped bullets into the corpse long after the fed was dead.

Once she was sure the fed was dead, she turned back to look down at Mal. Shock and terror once again coursed through her as she stared down at his thrashing body. Each breath he took made a nauseating shallow rasping noise. Time seemed to slow down as she stood there. Suddenly, she realized that this was what River had warned them about. It all made sense now. Metal in the air… That was the bullets. And the copper…she realized with a jolt that the copper had been blood. Blood was now seeping into Mal's chest cavity. Making it hard for him to breathe. With blood quickly filling his chest, there was no room for his lungs to expand.

As soon as that realization hit her, Aydan was hit by something else entirely. Something that lodged itself in her shoulder painfully. Something that made a sickening crack as it hit bone and sent another spasm of pain through her arm.

_Fuck._

Standing there, lost in her own thoughts, she had forgotten that, all around her, a battle was raging.

Clutching at her shoulder, Aydan watched as Jayne shot and killed the fed that had shot her. The last fed standing, as a matter of fact.

After everything went quiet, Dannie suddenly realized what it was she had to do. The skills her father had taught her, having been a field medic as well as a soldier in the war, kicked into gear. She bent down over Mal as the others rushed forward. It had only been a few seconds since he'd been shot. He was still alive, although for how long was anybody's guess.

Zoe looked down helplessly at her Captain, concern seeping into her stoic features. She wasn't prepared for this. Injuries weren't normally this serious. This never happened, not even to Mal. She didn't know what to do. They needed a doctor.

"Jayne, I need the emergency kit from the mule." Dannie said quickly, silently thanking God that Simon had insisted on equipping the vehicles with First Aid kits. Jayne nodded and ran over to the mule, returning a moment later with a huge metal box. As he set it down in front of her, she motioned with her left hand (the one that she could still move, as it was attached to her uninjured arm) for Zoe to open it. Zoe followed her lead, and as Dannie gave her instructions, she followed them quickly and carefully.

"Okay, so here's what I need you to do." Dannie began, after Zoe had removed all of the necessary items. She'd been keeping a close eye on Mal, and had realized that they needed to act fast if they were going to have any chance of saving him. Suddenly, his breathing stopped. "First of all, I need you to take that scalpel," she said, motioning to a sterile cutting instrument in the box, "and make an incision there. Between the fourth and fifth ribs."

Zoe gave her an unsure look, panic only evident in her eyes, but did as she said nonetheless. Blood immediately began to pour out, and Zoe quickly wiped it away with some gauze.

"Good." Dannie commented, "Now take that surgical tubing and insert it into the incision. We need to drain out that chest cavity."

Zoe did as she was told, and within moments the ground before her was covered in blood. She secured the tubing with some medical tape, and as she removed the bullets in his chest, the group waited in silence with bated breath. There was a sudden sharp intake of breath from Mal as he began breathing again, and the group let out a collective breath they hadn't even realized they'd been holding.

A relieved look crossed Zoe's face in particular. Mal was her closest friend and had become like family since the war. Not to mention the fact that he was her fearless, though sometimes moronic, leader. He'd carried her not only through the war, but ever since, and especially through Wash's death. She wasn't sure she could stand to lose another person so important in her life. She knew he wasn't out of the woods yet, not nearly, but thanks to Dannie's quick thinking, Mal still had a fighting chance.

"Just like your dad." Zoe whispered, giving Dannie a sidelong glance. Dannie didn't reply. Her parents were still a sore spot for her…not that Zoe or any of the others would know. Save for Dom and River, that is.

It was then that Zoe was able to turn her attention to Dannie's injuries. It was obvious that the bullet had been stopped by the bone, shattering her arm. At least Zoe knew she could effectively treat this wound.

Taking out a sterile set of instruments, Zoe turned to Dannie while Jayne went to the mule and called for Serenity to come quickly.

"This is gonna hurt more'n a little bit, but it's gotta be done. We need to get that bullet out of your arm and stop the bleedin' 'fore you bleed to death."

Aydan knew Zoe was right. She'd lost quite a bit of blood already; any more and she ran the risk of passing out and eventually death by blood loss. Dannie took a deep breath and closed her eyes tightly.

"Alright." She said, "Do it."

Zoe dug into the wound with the forceps in her hand. Dannie cried out in pain. It was possibly the worst pain she'd ever felt. Nonetheless, she tried her best not to move. It needed to be done, and movement would not only make the task even more difficult than it already was, but it could also cause more damage. Zoe was finally able to locate the bullet, and with a quick tug and a sharp shooting agony through Dannie's arm, it was out. The wound began bleeding even more profusely than it had been a moment ago, and Dannie was gritting her teeth to keep from crying out. Without skipping a beat, Zoe grabbed the small blowtorch used for cauterizing wounds.

Dannie protested. "No way! There's no way in the good gorram hell that you're going to use that on me!"

Zoe gave her a look that clearly said there was no room for argument.

"Look, I need to stop this bleeding. The quickest and easiest way for me to do so is to burn the wound shut. You count to three, and I'll do it on the count of three, okay?"

Aydan looked terrified, but nodded.

"Okay." She took a deep, deliberate breath and began to count. "One…" She took a long pause. "Two…"

Zoe caught her off guard as she quickly and without warning turned the torch on Dannie's wound. Dannie cried out, more in shock than in pain, and within seconds the wound was closed and the bleeding had stopped.

Aydan glared at Zoe, her eyes filled with unshed tears, no doubt due to the pain.

"I hadn't gotten to three yet." She whimpered.

"You were taking too long. You would have bled out by the time you got to three." Zoe responded in her usual cool, stoic manner. "Besides, it was a lot less painful when you weren't expectin' it. Trust me."

Just then, Serenity arrived.

The airlock opened to reveal Dom, Dannie, Simon, and Inara, all of whom rushed out immediately as soon as the door was opened. While Kaylee, Simon, and Inara rushed over to where Mal lay unconscious, Dom instead rushed over to Dannie's side.

"Dannie! Oh, God, Dannie! Are you okay?" He asked frantically, taking her face in his hands and searching it. He was horrified by the fact that she was covered in blood, and he grimaced as he found the newly cauterized wound on her shoulder. "Oh, God, _bao bei_." He whispered.

"Dom, look, it's okay, I'm fine, see? Zoe took good care of me." Dannie tried to reassure him. Her arguments were made null and void, however, when Dom helped her to her feet and she yelped in pain. Meanwhile, Inara's frantic voice could be heard in the background.

"MAL! MAL! OH, MAL!" She cried, tears flowing freely down her face as she stared down at the unmoving form of their Captain.

"He's still alive, but only just." Simon revealed as Zoe, Dom, and Dannie made their way over to the group surrounding Mal. "He's lost a lot of blood, that's for sure, and this chest tube is the only thing that's kept the blood from collecting in his chest cavity."

"That was Dannie's quick thinking." Zoe revealed as Simon and Jayne carefully loaded Mal onto the stretcher Simon had brought out with him and wheeled it quickly into Serenity and to the infirmary. Meanwhile, Dom had left Dannie's side to hold a hysteric Inara back while the others worked to save Mal. Despite the fact that Dom was considerably larger than Inara, he was having an extremely difficult time holding onto her. She finally managed to break free of his grip and went tearing after the stretcher.

FFFFFFFF

When Simon had gotten Mal onto the infirmary bed, he wasted no time in getting to work. Reaching into a drawer, he pulled out a syringe full of adrenaline and injected it into Mal's heart.

Mal was just beginning to stir as the rest of the crew gathered in the door of the infirmary and around the infirmary windows. Everyone was silent, except for Inara, who was crying hysterically and trying to push her way through the door. This time Jayne had been the one to take hold of her, being even larger and stronger than Dom was.

Mal began to stir as the adrenaline began pumping through his system. Simon knew this consciousness was only temporary, but it was a good sign.

"Doc?" Mal asked uncertainly, looking up at Simon. Mal's voice was hoarse and breathy. Hearing Mal's voice, Inara once again fought viciously against the person holding her, finally managing to break free of Jayne's grasp.

"Mal! Oh, Mal!" Inara sobbed, rushing to his side and taking his hand. Simon had begun making preparations for the surgery he would need to perform on Mal.

"'Nara?" Mal asked weakly. She smiled and nodded, tears slipping down her face. He gave a half-hearted smile and tried to weakly raise a hand to her face. She took his hand and pressed it to her face, closing her eyes and leaning into it. "'Nara…I'm so sorry 'Nara. I never planned on this happenin'. I…" He took a deep breath and grimaced, a sharp pain shooting through his chest. "I never planned on leavin' you like this."

"No, Mal, don't say that! You can't say that! You will not die on me! Not now." She said forcefully. Then, after a moment's pause. "You can't leave your first child without a father."

Mal's eyes suddenly widened. "You mean…" He whispered hoarsely. Inara nodded, a tear slipping down her face. Mal just looked shocked. Then his expression began to slip as he began losing consciousness once again.

"Mal? MAL!" Inara cried, once again becoming hysterical. "Mal, no! Mal, you have to wake up! You can't leave me, Mal!"

"You need to get her out of here so I can operate." Simon said quickly, to nobody in particular. Jayne and Dom both nodded, then each gently but firmly took one of her arms and escorted her out, screaming and thrashing the whole way. Simon doped Mal and began working. He called out quickly as the others turned to leave, telling Zoe that he needed her help. She nodded and suited up.

They quickly found the source of Mal's extensive bleeding, a damaged artery, and quickly repaired it. Then they patched up the other wounds, which were considerably less severe.

Then, without warning, the machine Mal was hooked up to began to make a loud, continuous noise, indicating that his heart had stopped.

"Fuck, he's flat lining!" Simon exclaimed, finding his emergency defibrillator and applying it to Mal's chest. "Clear!"

He sent a jolt of electricity through Mal's body. There was no response. He repeated the process. Still nothing. A look of terror filled Zoe's eyes. Simon tried once more. This time, Mal's heart started beating again. He immediately injected Mal with a shot of adrenaline, and after a tense moment of erratic beating, Mal's heart finally established a rhythm and slowed down. Simon and Zoe both gave a sigh of relief.

After removing the emergency chest tube from Mal and closing the hole in his chest, Simon wearily removed his surgical gear and sent Zoe to find Dominick. It had been an intense two hours, and Simon was exhausted. Mal was finally in stable condition, and there really wasn't anymore Simon could do for him at this point. All anyone could really do was wait and hope for the best.

After a moment, Zoe returned with Dom. Simon motioned for him to take a seat.

"So, Dom…I know that you have O positive type blood. You're what's known as the Universal Donor." He paused, glancing over to where Mal lay, unconscious but stable. "The Captain is badly in need of a transfusion, and I was wondering if you'd be willing-"

"Of course. Anything I can do to help." Dom said with a curt nod. He rolled up his sleeve and allowed Simon to hook him up to an IV that would collect his blood into a bag and drip it into an IV hooked up to Mal. Zoe watched the procedure, reminded of a time once before when Mal had been seriously injured and in need of blood. She could almost see Wash sitting in front of her, his gorgeous smile plastered to his face as he sat hooked up to the same type of apparatus. As she smiled fondly at the memory, she fought back a wave of tears.

"So how is he?" Dom asked, bringing Zoe out of her reverie. "Is he going to be okay?"

"We aren't sure yet." Simon replied grimly. "He's stable, at least. The surgery was difficult, though, and he died once on the operating table. All we can do now is wait and see if he pulls through."

Dom nodded silently, the seriousness of the situation not lost on him.

FFFFFFFF

Mal was groggy. There was a bright light on his eyes even through his eyelids. He vaguely wondered if he was dead. At least, he did until the pain struck. Then he _knew_ he wasn't dead. After all, you didn't feel pain if you were dead, right? Unless…he was in the Special Hell Book had warned him about. Silently hoping that wasn't the case, he gingerly opened his eyes. It took a surprising amount of strength to pry open his eyes, and he regretted it almost instantly when he did. The bright light burned into his sensitive retinas and made his head throb painfully.

Hearing a loud groan coming from Mal, Simon hurried over to check on him. The others, who had been waiting outside for the last several hours, looked up at Simon's movement.

"Mal…Can you hear me, Mal?" Simon asked, shining a painfully bright penlight into Mal's eyes.

Mal groaned in response.

"Welcome back to the world of the living." Simon said. Despite the ease in his tone, it was easy to see that Simon was suddenly very relieved after having spent the last however long Mal had been out worrying.

"Is living s'posed to be this painful?" Mal asked. Simon chuckled and walked away, returning a moment later with a painkiller, which he promptly injected into Mal's arm.

"Welcome back, sir." Came a voice from the doorway. Mal somehow found the energy to lift his head and found the entire crew standing in the doorway. Zoe smiled and continued, "That was a pretty close call, there. For a while, we weren't sure you were gonna pull through."

"Simon brought you back from the dead." Dom commented.

"You died on the table." Kaylee commented. She looked as though she'd recently been crying, although her usual perpetual cheeriness was beginning to shine through now that she was sure Mal was going to be okay.

Mal's eyes drifted over to Dannie, whose arm bore a cast and propped up in a sling. It was obvious from her red, puffy eyes that she'd also been crying. Though the look she fixed Mal with right now wasn't one of relief or happiness. She was pissed. And it was downright scary.

"If you _ever_," Dannie began, her every syllable infused with a tone meant to express to Mal just how much of a moron he really was, "say that I'm going to be the death of you before you go out on a job again, so help me God I will murder you myself! And this time, we _won't _bring you back!"

Mal let out a laugh, realizing just how ironic it was that Dannie had, quite literally, been the death of him; or so he'd gathered from the various comments that had been made. He immediately regretted it as his chest once again felt like it had split open at the seams.

Once Mal found himself able to breathe again, his eyes began to search for the one person he most wanted to see at the moment. His eyes met Inara's, and suddenly it seemed as though everyone else had melted away.

Fresh tears made their way down Inara's face as she witnessed the miracle before her. She'd had her doubts that Mal would pull through, considering the extent of his injuries, and she'd been terrified and devastated.

As Inara stood staring at Mal, she suddenly found herself frozen, unsure of what she should do. Did Mal remember what she'd told him before he'd slipped into unconsciousness? If he did, what would he say? She was suddenly very glad for the fact that there were other people in the room. She didn't want to have to face Mal right now.

Mal could see that Inara was troubled about something. And he was sure he had a fairly good idea what it was. He couldn't wait for the others to leave. He was glad they were there now that he was awake, but he needed to talk to Inara. Alone.

Simon caught the way Mal and Inara were staring at each other and cleared his throat.

"Ahem…uh…Well, everyone, now that we've all welcomed Mal back to the Land of the Living, I think it's time we let our Captain get some rest."

There was some protest for the most part, but everyone left the room. For her part, Inara was surprisingly compliant.

"Uh, Inara…could you come back here a second?" Simon called out before she could make a clean getaway. She considered just walking on, but she knew somewhere in the pit of her stomach that she just couldn't. Heaving a sigh, she turned back and re-entered the infirmary.

"Yes, Simon?" She asked.

"I was wondering if…perhaps…you might stay with Mal…you know, keep an eye on him, while I go lay down for a bit."

Inara's heart sank. She knew that Simon had the best of intentions, clearly under the impression that she would want some alone time with Mal at the moment, but right now nothing was further from the truth.

"Of course." Inara answered, flashing her well-practised former-Companion fake grin.

Simon gave her a smile and gave Mal a nod before exiting the infirmary.

Mal found himself completely alone with Inara now. He made a mental note to himself that he would have to give the good Doctor a raise and a thank-you later on. But right now, he had things to discuss with his fiancée.

Inara was awfully quiet as she drew a seat up beside Mal's bed and sat.

"Inara?" Mal asked gently, "Are you okay?"

Inara looked up at him and plastered on her fake smile. "Of course I am…why wouldn't I be? You're alive, aren't you?"

Mal nodded. "I kinda suspect it has somethin' to do with what you told me earlier."

Inara felt a sinking feeling, followed promptly by her insides tying themselves in knots. She looked down at her hands, which had suddenly become very interesting.

"Oh…you remember that, do you?"

"How long?" Mal asked in response. Inara was silent. "How long, Inara?"

Inara sighed. "About two months."

"And you couldn't find a spare moment to maybe tell me?" Mal asked, feeling indignant.

"Mal, you made very it clear to me that you didn't want children!" Inara protested, her blood beginning to boil as she fought back fresh tears.

The question was on the tip of Mal's tongue. He couldn't ever remember saying anything about not wanting children. And then it hit him like a ton of bricks. The comment he'd made a few mornings earlier…the comment he'd meant to be offhanded. He wanted to smack himself. He probably would have, if he wasn't sure it would cause him excruciating agony.

A look of disgust crossed Mal's face, and for a moment Inara was afraid he was angry with her. She looked down once again at her hands.

"Look, Mal, if you don't want the baby we can always-"

She was stopped mid-sentence by Mal's hand on her stomach. Inara looked up into his face and saw that his disgusted look was replaced with a loving one.

"What do you think of Malcolm for a boy?" He asked, a small smile on his lips. Inara stared at him, surprised, a question in her eyes.

"I never meant it like that." He said softly. "I'm so sorry if I ever gave you the impression that I didn't want to have a family with you."

Inara found that she was crying again, only this time she was crying tears of joy and relief.

"I love you Inara." Mal murmured quietly.

"I love you too, Mal." Inara replied, tenderly kissing him.

FFFFFFFF

Jayne Cobb had never been one to say thank you. In point of fact, he couldn't even remember exactly the last time he'd said it. If ever.

So why he suddenly felt compelled to do just that was beyond his comprehension. It just wasn't his way. He'd never in his life had any manners whatsoever, so why on earth would he now?

He'd been pacing his bunk for the last half-hour going over in his head what exactly it was he was going to say. He'd never been good with words…even worse at expressing himself…so he'd practised over and over what he planned on saying, trying to get it to sound just right. It had occurred to him that it was simply just too much hassle for one little thank you…so why _was_ he doing it? Jayne Cobb had a preference for the simple and easy things in life. This was complicated. Yet he couldn't bring himself to put it out of his mind and move on with his life until he'd done it.

He'd spent ten minutes searching the ship, and was just about to give up when he finally found her. She was barefoot, as usual, and was sitting silently in the cockpit. She had her knees hugged to her chest, her long brown hair draped down her back. She seemed to be just…staring. Staring out into the black.

"Ahem…" Jayne cleared his throat to get her attention.

"Hello Jayne." She responded, not bothering to tear her eyes away from the starry sky. Jayne found it slightly creepy.

"I been lookin' for ya…" Jayne began, standing stiffly in his place by the door.

"I know." River responded simply.

Jayne was a little irritated by this. If the ruttin' girl had known he was tryin' to find her, why in the gorram hell couldn't she have come to him.

"Would have defeated the purpose." River said, reading his thoughts, which he found even more creepifyin'. "The prey does not simply come to the predator…it must use its skills to stalk and catch it on its own."

"Uhuh…" Jayne said.

"You should sit down." River said, finally tearing her eyes away from the Black to look at him.

"Oh, uh…yeah…right." Jayne muttered, venturing awkwardly into the cockpit and dropping unceremoniously into the co-pilot's chair. "Listen, Cr-" he stopped himself with a rueful chuckle, "River. I mean River. Anyway, I just wanted to…ya know…thank you for what you did. Savin' my life an' all, I mean." Jayne couldn't help but note how awkward those words had sounded coming out of his mouth. Still, he had to say his piece, no matter how awkward it sounded…or felt, for that matter. "Anyway…I know I ain't exactly been the nicest person to ya since you came on board the ship…matter 'o' fact, I been a ruttin' _pi-gu_ more'n a little 'o' the time, so…I'm sorry. I'll try an' be a little less of a _hun dahn_."

River smiled at him. Jayne could feel himself going red. He wasn't used to apologizing to anyone, nor admitting when he was wrong. And still, he found himself wondering why he had felt so compelled to do it.

"Jayne is Jayne," River responded, "I expected no less."

"Well, still…it's wrong." Jayne said gruffly, "So from now on, I'll be respectful."

With that, he got up and hurried out of the room, embarrassed by everything he'd just said…and still wondering _why_ he'd decided to do it in the first place. He decided that it was because he felt guilty, and rightly so, for the fact that he'd caused her so much trouble and she'd _still_ found the decency to save his life. That was it. It was just guilt. Nothing more.

Translations:

Cao ni zu-zong shi-ba dai – Fuck your ancestors to the eighteenth generation (heh…my personal favorite)

Pi-gu – Ass

Swai – Cute

Shuh muh – What?/Pardon me?

Hun-dahn – Son of a Bitch

Ni ta ma de. Tian-xia suo-you-de ren. Dou gai-si - Everyone under the heavens ought to die

Bao Bei - Sweetheart

AN: Well…I must admit, this is the longest piece of work I've written so far. Forgive its monstrous length. I considered cutting it up and posting it as different chapters, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. There was no proper place to split it up, so…you get one long, monstrous chapter. Filled with actiony-goodness, though, which is an added bonus. Forgive me if my action scenes suck. Anyway, forgive the fact that this has been a _long_ time coming, and I hope you enjoy it. I plan on playing with Zoe, Simon, and Kaylee's characters very soon though, so forgive their absence thus far. I hope I'm getting better with the characterization in the story as each chapter progresses. Bear in mind, this is my first Firefly fanfic, so bear with me. Thanks for sticking with it and please review! I welcome constructive criticism.

Lots of love, Cat.


	7. One Week Earlier

Disclaimer: You know just as well as I do that I own nothing

Disclaimer: You know just as well as I do that I own nothing. Do I wish I owned it…hell yeah! But as it doesn't appear that I will obtain ownership rights of anything anytime soon, I'll just have to stick to fanfic. (Dies a little on the inside).

AN: Forgive me for not updating this sooner. You see, life's been pretty hectic lately…exam prep, last-minute projects, exams…it's been brutal. Anyway…since I've got two months ahead of me with very little to do, I'm hoping updates will be a little more frequent. Anyway, now that that's out of the way…on with the story!

One Week Earlier

Three months had passed since the Midas heist had gone horribly wrong. After an extended period of recovery time in the infirmary at Simon's insistence, Mal was finally deemed fit and released to resume his captainy-duties.

All in all, the last three months had passed quickly and without incident. Inara and Mal had been spending nearly every waking moment together, and it was clearly visible that Mal was ecstatic about the prospect of the baby. Since having his near-death experience, it was obvious that Mal had realized how precious his life truly was, and he didn't want to waste another moment. He was even more openly affectionate toward Inara, kissing and embracing her in the presence of other crew members. Everyone was unsettled by this new Mal, but Zoe in particular had found this sudden change in him more than slightly disturbing.

Perhaps the most disturbing thing of all, however, was the sudden change in dynamics between River and Jayne. After the Midas incident, Jayne had become significantly less hostile toward River, and had even gone so far as to stop calling her 'Crazy' and 'Moonbrain'. Even more unsettling still was the fact that Jayne had begun talking to River, and even spending time with her. He would show her his guns, regaling her with stories of how he'd gotten them and of the battles they'd seen, and sometimes they'd even work out together, talking about anything and everything that came to mind. It was almost as though they were becoming…god forbid…_friends. _Simon was especially concerned about Jayne's newfound interest in River, and spent every opportunity ranting about it to Kaylee. Which was exactly what he was doing right now, as he and Kaylee prepared for bed in her bunk.

"…but Kaylee, this is _Jayne_ we're talking about. I'm not comfortable with him spending so much time with River. What if he has a bad influence on her?"

"Well I think it's sweet." Kaylee responded, "And more'n likely it'll be _her _that has an effect on _him_."

"I still don't know if this is such a good idea…"

Kaylee rolled her eyes. "Simon, she's nearly a grown woman, not to mention she can tie you in a knot if she gets it in her head that she feels like it. Do you really think that you can stop her from doin' something if she really wants to?" She paused, trying to find a way to phrase her words delicately. "Look, Simon…I know you've got her best interests at heart, and that you're only tryin' to protect her. But it's time you step aside and start lettin' her learn to live her own life."

"But Kaylee, you don't understand…she's my little sister, I've looked out for her her whole life…it's all I really know how to do when it comes to her…I can't just stop worrying about her. Besides, you seem to be forgetting that he tried to turn us in to the Alliance at one point-"

"Now, that's not fair, Simon. That was a long time ago, and Jayne made a stupid decision in a moment of weakness." Kaylee argued. "Look, I'm not askin' you to stop worryin' or lookin' out for River, but you really need to back off and let her take the reins. You won't always be around, and she needs to learn to make her own decisions and to take control of her own life."

"Yeah…you're probably right…but still…" Simon said.

"Aw, come on Simon, what's the worst that could happen? Jayne and River fall in love and elope to some backwater planet where they get married, River becomes Mrs. Jayne Cobb, and you've got a new brother-in-law."

Simon just stared, horrified, as Kaylee grinned wickedly. She'd tried, really tried to hold it in, but she just couldn't resist making a little jab at him. And the look on his face was just priceless. She wished she had a capture of it right about now.

"Ni ta ma de. Tian-xia suo-you-de ren. Dou gai-si, Kaylee, what, are you _trying _to put me in an early grave?"

"No, of course not." Kaylee grinned, sauntering up to Simon and stopping just inches away from him. "If I did that, then I'd have no one to cuddle with at night."

Simon scoffed as Kaylee closed what little distance remained between them and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Honestly, Simon." Kaylee said, bringing her lips within centimeters of his, steering the conversation back to a serious tone, "You worry too much. This could be good for both Jayne and River. And if he does somethin' she doesn' like, she can beat him to within an inch of his life."

Simon gave a chuckle as Kaylee pressed her lips to his in a soft kiss. After a moment, he pulled away to look into her face.

"What did I do to ever deserve you?" He quietly asked. Kaylee gave a little giggle.

"Well, savin' my life definitely earned you some points in my book." She grinned.

"I'm serious, Kaylee." Simon said, giving a half-smile. "Sometimes I wonder if I really am good enough for you."

Kaylee's silly smile slipped from her face. "Of course you are, Simon. You're more than good enough for me." She paused, looking away from his eyes before quietly continuing, "Sometimes I wonder how a smart, handsome, refined young doctor like you could have ever fallen for me."

Simon smiled, brushing a stray strand of her auburn hair out of her face. He placed a hand underneath her chin and gently brought her face up so that she was forced to look at him.

"How could I not?" He asked simply. Kaylee began to tear up at his words, and Simon felt pride flare up within him. He had never been good with words, especially when it came to Kaylee, but somehow he had managed to find the right thing to say when it mattered the most.

FFFFFFFF

Zoe sighed as she took another sip of her tea, becoming lost once more in a sea of memories. It was late in the night cycle, and as everyone else was fast asleep by now, she was completely alone. She'd been doing this a lot lately; in fact, she hadn't had a good nights' sleep since Wash died. The bed felt so cold…so empty without him there. And it was far too quiet without his excessive snoring.

Zoe gave a humourless laugh as tears began to well up in her eyes. When they'd first gotten married, she used to hate his snoring. But after a while, she'd grown accustomed to it. And now that it was gone, she just couldn't seem to fall asleep anymore.

Tears began to make their way down her face, first just one, and then several, until finally she dissolved into a desolate wreck. Her shoulders shook and she gasped uncontrollably as the wave of tears she'd kept at bay all day finally hit her. She felt so alone in the world. She found it difficult to share in the happiness of the others onboard because she couldn't help but feel envious of them. None of them had ever had to experience what she'd gone through…none of them had ever lost someone they cared so deeply about…

Zoe straightened up in surprise as she heard footsteps behind her. She gave a sniff and hurriedly tried to wipe away the tears.

"Oh…sorry Zoe. Didn't mean to disturb you." Came Aydan's surprised voice. "I didn't think anyone would be up now. Are you always up this late?"

Zoe's body stiffened in her seat. _Yes_. "Sometimes."

She hadn't meant it to sound so cold, so angry…it was just how it had come out. The room was silent as the tension grew so thick it was almost tangible. Zoe wished that Dannie would just go away and leave her to her misery. She'd put on a façade all day, a fairly convincing one, too. Nobody suspected how deep in despair she truly was these days. But now…it was late and she was just too tired to maintain the charade any longer.

Aydan, however, just didn't seem to want to leave. Instead, she silently went about making a cup of tea. Then she hopped up onto the counter and sat, quietly sipping her tea. Zoe remained silent and tense as the minutes wore on. She didn't want anyone to see her cry, let alone this girl she'd only known a few months. She preferred to suffer quietly, away from prying eyes. She felt that it made her weak to let others see her pain.

Zoe wasn't sure how long they sat there in awkward silence, neither one willing to speak. Finally, Dannie decided to break the silence.

"Who was it?"

"Excuse me?" Zoe turned around in her seat and gave Dannie a half-curious, half-furious look.

"You were crying…before I came in, I heard you. In the six months I've been on Serenity, I've never seen you cry before. You're not the type of person that cries. Only great personal loss makes a person cry like that…especially a person like you. So…who was it?"

"None of your fuckin' business." Zoe responded coldly. She didn't talk about Wash to anyone, and there was a silent understanding between those on the ship that no one was to mention him in front of her. Needless to say, she sure as hell wasn't about to bare her soul to Dannie.

Dannie gave Zoe a sympathetic look that did nothing to diffuse the situation. In fact, it only made Zoe angrier. Then Dannie spoke.

"I understand. How it feels-"

Zoe had had enough. As soon as Dannie said that, she lost what little control she had managed to exercise up until now.

"You understand?! YOU understand how I'M feeling? MY HUSBAND IS DEAD! AND YOU CAN SIT THERE ALL SELF-RIGHTIOUSLY AND CLAIM TO KNOW HOW I FEEL?! YOU KNOW NOTHING OF HOW I FEEL!"

Zoe turned her back to Dannie once more in an attempt to control her anger. After a moment, Dannie spoke in a quiet voice.

"I'm sorry. And I do understand…the feeling of overwhelming loneliness, the isolation…it was my parents I lost. Two years ago. I know it's not exactly the same as losing your husband, but…" She trailed off.

Zoe turned in her seat to look at the girl, who seemed on the verge of tears herself. Zoe's anger began to fade as she watched Dannie, being replaced instead by pity.

Seeing Zoe watching her, Dannie continued, "Well…I'm not sure if 'lost' is the right word. They left on a job one day…they were cargo runners, too…they were doing an Alliance run, because we were hard up for coin…they were supposed to wave me when they'd delivered the cargo, but…the call never came. I finally decided to go out and look for them. I circled the 'Verse twice, but I couldn't find them anywhere. They were just…gone. I loved them so much…they were all I had…and they were gone in the blink of an eye. The worst part is not knowing whether they're alive or dead. If they just up and decided to abandon me or if…if something happened to them."

As Dannie finished her story, tears began to make their way down her face. Zoe felt the last of her anger slip away as she realized that maybe Dannie understood after all. They'd both lost people close to them, they'd both felt the isolation and abandonment. Maybe their experiences weren't so different after all.

"I'm sorry." Zoe said quietly, "And I'm sorry I yelled at you. It ain't you I'm angry with. Ain't even anyone in particular. I'm just…angry." She finished quietly, her own eyes beginning to tear up.

"It's okay…I understand. I was really angry after my parents…I'm still angry. I guess I never really got over it."

By now, both women were crying openly and unabashedly. Zoe didn't seem to care anymore whether or not Dannie saw her cry. She'd finally found someone who understood…who she could share her pain with. She didn't have to keep it bottled up and hidden anymore.

Zoe began to sob even harder. "I just…I see everybody happy on the ship and…and I-I think of Wash. And Inara b-bein' pregnant…it just r-reminds me of the ch-children I'll never have with him."

Zoe broke down completely and Dannie slid off the counter and walked over to her. Unsure of what Zoe's reaction would be, Dannie tentatively wrapped her arms around Zoe. Zoe, much to Dannie's surprise, hugged her back. The two of them sat in silence for a while, hugging each other and crying, comforted by the other. Two strong women who didn't have to be afraid of appearing weak in the other's company.

Finally, after a long while, they let go of each other and wiped the tears from their eyes. Zoe was silent for a long time before she spoke the question that was bothering her the most.

"Does…does it get easier with time?"

Dannie smiled sadly at Zoe. "I honestly don't know. Some days it still hurts like hell, while others it doesn't seem to hurt as much."

Zoe nodded. They sat silently for a while longer, finishing their tea. Then they left the galley and each went off to their bunks with the understanding that the events transpired there that night would never be shared with another living soul.

AN: Okay, so, a fairly short chapter, overall. It's really kind of a filler, just because I wanted to let Zoe, Simon, and Kaylee's characters out to play a little bit. And I wanted to have the little bonding scene between Zoe and Dannie, because I figured that Dannie might understand Zoe's pain better than any of the rest of the crew. Except, maybe, Dom, but still. And no, it wasn't meant to come off as Femslashy, but if you choose to interpret it that way, hey, that's your own dirty mind, and as I have no control over it whatsoever, I assume no responsibility whatsoever for its actions. Anyway, next chapter is back to the plot, so…I hope you enjoyed. Oh, and reviews are shiny. :D

Love always, Cat.


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